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tt0357110 | The Ballad of Jack and Rose | Jack Slavin (Daniel Day-Lewis), a Scottish farmer with a heart ailment, lives on an island which had been a hippie commune decades before. He is struggling to keep landowners from building developments on the wetland. His teenaged daughter Rose (Camilla Belle) is a beautiful but isolated girl with a passion for gardening. Since Rose's mother had left the family, Jack homeschooled his daughter and did not expose her to life beyond their small island home. Jack believes that they both "need a woman around." He travels to the mainland to ask his girlfriend Kathleen (Catherine Keener) to move in with him. Jack breaks the news to a shocked Rose, from whom he had kept his relationship a secret. Rose remains disdainful when Kathleen and her two teenage sons move in.
Kathleen struggles to adapt to the Slavin's rural lifestyle. Her sons Rodney (Ryan McDonald) and Thaddius (Paul Dano) are almost polar opposites; Thaddius is a sullen, rude delinquent, while Rodney is insecure and often overlooked. While she still has a strained relationship with Kathleen, Rose develops strange bonds with her new "step-brothers." It is clear that Thaddius is attracted to her, but Rose does not like him. One night, Rose spies on Jack and Kathleen in bed together, and develops a strange jealousy toward Kathleen. Rose decides to lose her virginity, and shocks Rodney by confronting him topless and asking him for sex. Rodney refuses and reasons with her, and instead ends up giving her a dramatic haircut. Afterward, Rose calmly takes her father's shotgun and possibly misfires it into Jack and Kathleen's bedroom as they sleep. An initially shocked Jack confronts Rose in disbelief, but the two seem to forget the event within minutes.
Kathleen asks Jack about his relationship with Rose, and how she might have psychological problems that should be dealt with. Jack denies that his daughter has any problems. Meanwhile, Rose and Rodney become good friends. Rodney is often criticized by his mother for being overweight, and the two fight constantly about his diet, but Rose sees only his kindness and intelligence. However, still on a mission to lose her virginity, Rose's thoughts turn to Thaddius. While trapping a copperhead intended for scaring Kathleen, Rose sees Thaddius and a girl named Red Berry having sex in the woods. Later that night, Thaddius enters Rose's room and though she dislikes him, Rose allows him to have sex with her. The copperhead, which Rose has kept in its cage under her bed, escapes into the house when the lock of the cage is loosened and drops open by the vibrations of the bed that Thaddius and Rose are having sex in.
To irk her father, Rose hangs her bloodied bedsheet in the front yard. Jack is furious that his daughter has been "ruined," and gives Thaddius one day to move out. Meanwhile, Kathleen is cornered by the copperhead. The resulting chaos puts the whole household on edge. That night, Rose holds a screening of a homemade movie about the hippie commune in her treehouse. As the film rolls, Thaddius advances on Rose and is stopped by Jack. After a scuffle, Thaddius falls from the treehouse and is rushed to the hospital. Rose runs away and hides for days. Jack finally finds her, and offers to ask Kathleen to leave if it would bring Rose home. A distraught Kathleen demands $20,000 in exchange for leaving, which Jack pays.
Jack returns to Rose's hideout, and she is overjoyed with the news that Kathleen is gone. That night, Rose kisses Jack, and the shock that his daughter is in love with him makes him upset, and he weeps. Waking the next morning, the memory of the kiss haunts Jack. He and Rose go to the house of the builder, Marty Rance, and Jack breaks down, finding that he has no fight left in him. He tells Rance to destroy the wetlands. He and Rose return home, and Jack dies within a few days. Rose had originally planned to kill herself when her father died, but after setting the house on fire and lying down next to Jack's body, she changes her mind and escapes.
Two years later, Rose is shown living in Vermont and working in a greenhouse where Gray, her father's friend from the island, works as well. | storytelling, home movie | train | wikipedia | Having admired its director, Rebecca Miller in all her films, we were right in seeing it in the wide screen of the main theater because that seems to be the perfect way to watch this intimate picture.Ms. Miller takes us to an island off the coast of the continental mainland to set her story.
We gather Jack and Rose have a special bond that at times border in incest.Jack believes in keeping the island the way it is; development is coming fast and furious in the way of luxury homes being built in what probably will be a gated community where people of the same background and financial means will live, in sharp contrast as the commune idea that attracted Jack to the place.
The director ought to be congratulated for involving us in the film and making us care for what will happen to Jack and Rose.Daniel Day-Lewis is an actor who doesn't work much these days and that is our loss!
Not only is she beautiful, but she clearly exudes an innate intelligence that pays off in her portrayal of the girl who sees her world fall apart and has no way to stop what is killing her father.Catherine Keener makes a valuable contribution to the film as Kathleen.
That is not meant to be because Jack realizes that in "importing" her to the island she gets in the way of the perfect balance between father and daughter.Ryan McDonald makes the confused Rodney come alive.
The rest of the cast include minor appearances by Beau Bridges, Jason Lee, Jena Malone and Paul Dano, who plays Thaddius the other son."The Ballad of Jack and Rose" is clearly not for a wide audience because it's too intelligent to get a broader distribution, but the fans of Rebecca Miller will always cherish this film for what she brought to it and for the magnificent performances she got from her cast.
Lewis portrays Jack, a single father who has lived on an island in isolation with his daughter until his new girlfriend comes to move in.
In an effort to to marginalize the girlfriend, Rose takes up a new-found interest in sexuality, thinking that must be what her father wants and is getting from the girlfriend.It's obvious to anyone watching that Jack loves his daughter, and in many ways has been a wonderful father to her.
Rose displays all the postcards her mother sends on a wall in the house and tells the new girlfriend that "one day she's coming back."I always find Daniel Day-Lewis's characters engaging, and Jack is no different.
This time, he's an ageing hippy from Motherwell (judging by his impeccable accent), living on in an abandoned commune with Rose, his daughter (Camilla Belle) who has been so well kept away from the corrupting influences of the outside world that she behaves like his clone, or sister, or lover.
My pick for male Oscar winner so far this year is Daniel Day-Lewis as an eccentric father of a precocious girl in The Ballad of Jack and Rose.I don't think the bard suggested incest on the menu for Prospero and Miranda, but in this ballad dad and daughter alone on a remote peninsula off the East coast are not fighting just real estate developers and dad's lovers, they are dealing with incestuous feelings so subtly relayed that even our delicately Christian president might not be offended.I have five beautiful daughters in the healthiest of relationships, but that a man alone with a bright, loving, free-spirited daughter could go to the dark side is the genius of this parable about the difficulties of living outside societal norms, which sometimes are fortunately restrictive of baser instincts.Day-Lewis's conflicted protagonist is a marvelous piece of acting, the best of his career, and the most interesting this year..
While Daniel Day Lewis and Catherine Keener are the marquee name anchors for the film the most delightful surprises come from Camilla Bell and Ryan McDonald who give honest and often very mature performances.
Unfortunately, the script I found cloying and weak and entirely unbelievable, it sidestepped the creepy incestuous moments that it evoked, and felt a little like watching a scene from a writers workshop at times.That being said- Daniel Day Lewis.
Director-screenwriter Rebecca Miller has a similar idea in mind here, as she has fashioned a story set in 1986 around the same inextricable bond between a 1960's drop-out Jack and his teenage daughter Rose on an isolated island.
She has an intriguing idea for the film's theme, the disillusionment of the idealism borne out of the 1960's anti-war movement and the encroachment of capitalism upon a former commune's idyllic setting.However, whereas Ozu uses narrative ellipses to let the story flow and lets the viewer respond emotionally, Miller does not reflect such an instinctive manner and has piled on soap opera conventions, heavy symbolism, a dominating soundtrack (lots of Bob Dylan) and lethargic pacing to add weight to her well-intentioned but significantly flawed 2005 movie.
That's unfortunate since we expect more from a film starring the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis (Miller's husband) as Jack and Catherine Keener as his sometime hippie-earth mother girlfriend, Kathleen.
Oddly, she plays a comic variation on a very similar role in this year's "The 40 Year-Old Virgin" and is wonderful in that.Camilla Belle is a lovely presence as Rose, and she does some strong work with the coming-of-age aspects of her character.
There are several performances in smaller roles worth mentioning - Ryan McDonald keenly aware as Kathleen's overweight, acerbic son, Rodney, who wants to be a hairdresser; Beau Bridges as the conciliatory land developer, Marty Rance; a surprisingly sensitive Jason Lee as a thoughtful gardener who bonds with Rose over their mutual love of flowers; and in the film's best performance, an almost unrecognizable Jena Malone as Rodney's wild-child friend, Red Berry.Occasionally there are scenes that surprise with their originality like the final encounter between Jack and Marty.
The Ballad of Jack and Rose reviewed by Sam Osborn rating: 2 out of 4United States, 2005 U.S. Release Date: 4/08/06 (limited) Running Length: 1:52 MPAA Classification: R (language, sexual content and some drug material)Director: Rebecca Miller Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Camilla Belle, Catherine Keener, Paul Dano, Ryan McDonald, Jena Malone Screenplay: Rebecca Miller Producer: Lemore Syvan Cinematography: Ellen Kuras Editing: Sabine Hoffmann Music: Michael Rohatyn U.S. Distributor: IFC FilmsIt's always been my philosophy that films aren't required to carry a message.
The father, Jack (Daniel Day-Lewis) lives on an island off the east coast of the United States on land that he set up in the seventies as a collective society for people who wanted to escape from the materialistic ways of a capitalist country.
So he brings in Kathleen (Catherine Keener) and her boys, Thaddius (Paul Dano) and Rodney (Ryan McDonald), to live in the house and act as Rose's mother when he's passed.
Within the first five minutes of the film Jack (Daniel Day-Lewis), announces, tendentiously, to his daughter, Rose (Camilla Belle), a major theme of the film.
Shortly thereafter, Rose runs dramatically to her refuge in the woods following her father's attempt to discuss his state of health, and we know director/screenwriter Rebecca Miller has no fear of filmic cliché.There is not an honest line of dialog or credible emotion in this film.
Rebecca Miller directs Daniel Day-Lewis in 'The Ballad of Jack and Rose.' Sergio Castellitto debuts as director, starring with Penelope Cruz, in a movie made from his wife Margaret Mazzantini's novel, 'Non ti Muovere ('Don't Move').
Let's consider why.'The Ballad of Jack and Rose' is far less eventful than Castellitto's turbulent 'Don't Move.' It begins with a situation: Jack, a dying man (Day-Lewis) lives with a beautiful teenage daughter named Rose (the radiant Camilla Belle) on a defunct island commune, where Jack owns the property through an inheritance.
The undramatic, conventional developer, played simply but very well by Beau Bridges, may be the most solid and real of the whole cast of characters.There are weapons fired, things set fire to, bones broken, but 'The Ballad of Jack and Rose' is more a mood piece than a chronicle of events and while the mood is strong enough to make you feel stuck on that island, it just sort of fizzles out.
Day-Lewis's Scottish accent is so well done it sometimes seems to be all that's happening.Rebecca Miller likes to follow characters whose lives are spinning out of control (as in 'Personal Velocity'), and this time her movie is more like a whole, but it still doesn't go anywhere.
Unless you're a die-hard fan of failed hippie communes or of Daniel Day-Lewis, you shouldn't bother.As for 'Non ti Muovere' ('Don't Move'), Sergio Castellitto's collaboration with his wife Margaret Mazzantini to adapt her novel, see that film's entry elsewhere on this site for my fuller comment, but it's an excessive melodrama, though perhaps a more interesting film than 'The Ballad of Jack and Rose.' At any rate it gives both Castellitto and Cruz a chance to play the kind of all-out, soulful roles they may both have only dreamed of till now.
"Ballad of Jack and Rose" almost works as it examines the pitfalls of extreme idealism.Writer/director Rebecca Miller sets up an archetypal situation, of an isolated Utopian who thinks he can create and control a perfect living environment with his daughter.Daniel Day Lewis makes him too sympathetic, particularly his Pyrrhic politics, while his character's nemeses are too simplistic, even as he finally is defeated by mortality and human nature, or perhaps what some theologians would consider original sin.
M. Barrie in "Finding Neverland" in wanting innocent children to never grow up, even while indulging his own adult needs.As with "Personal Velocity," Miller well captures conversational dialog within broken families, particularly across genders, and she is uncannily good at giving us young and older teens, as puberty is presented here as a palpable enemy.Beau Bridges's good old boy developer is an overly stereotyped builder of ticky tacky McMansions; it would have been more interesting if he was threatening the wetlands with solar powered, energy recycling houses.The continuing image of poisonous snakes is a bit heavy-handed symbolism of women as the cause for the fall of Eden.
Jack visits the main land and invites Kathleen and her two sons to live with them to aid in these things.Roses quickly feels threatened by Kathleen and proceeds to behave in disturbing and unhealthy ways to show her protest.
His realization that Rose may have issues comes to little to late condemning her to a life of self seeking destruction as we see in the film.The true sadness of this film is not in the place the writer obviously wants it to be but in the fact that the writer actually seems to think there is some sort of romantic quality to the horrid parenting of Jack which creates a disturbed teenager with no visible means of creating a healthy future for her.I have been working with teens for nearly ten years now and I have seen how the selfishness of parents in attempts to keep their kids to themselves can create many problems for those teens.
The movie really falls apart at the end.Aside from Keener's less than mediocre performance, it was often difficult to understand what Daniel Day-Lewis, the father is saying, because of his heavy Scottish accent.
The film starts out very promising, an idyllic and relaxing flow through nature and natural housing that is habited by one ex-commune member Jack and his daugther Rose, alone in a world left with all the time to work and play and look at clouds in the sky.
'The Ballad of Jack and Rose' tells the story of an ailing radical, living a seemingly idyllic life with his daughter, but with his future threatened by the twin threats of development and his own impending mortality.
One of his lesser known roles was in the small independent film "The Ballad of Jack & Rose (2005) Directed by his wife Rebecca Miller.
It's a story about the relationship between a father and daughter living off the grid on an island off the east coast.Camilla Belle plays Rose the tomboyish teenage daughter who has spent her entire life on the island, sheltered from the rest of the world.
The beginning grabbed me and I felt like this was going to be a touching story, but as soon as Kathleen and her two sons came to move in with Jack and Rose, everything fell apart.
Jack Slavin (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his young daughter Rose (Camilla Belle) live in blissful isolation on a former island commune off the east coast.
I don't usually like Dylan but a great song by him is included here -- "One More Cup of Coffee." Watch for it late in the story when Jack and Rose leave the island to confront the real estate developer.
Rarely have I ever seen such a union of head acting and intuitive acting in a single man, but by god he's got it, and his talent lends to Jack's character 100 times over.I was surprised by Camilla Belle's performance as Rose.
"The Ballad of Jack and Rose" (2005): Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Camilla Belle, Catherine Keener, Beau Bridges, Jason Lee, Paul Dano, Ryan McDonald, and Jena Malone.
Wishing to be free from the contemporary world, Jack and his teen-aged daughter Rose live virtually self-sufficiently and alone on a small island off the East Coast.However, all is not well in his utopia lately, as his health is failing rapidly and housing developments are beginning to encroach on his borders.
The result is a film of tenderness and dashed hopes and unconditional love between a father and daughter.Jack Slavin (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a Scottish immigrant who mentally still lives in the 1960s, full of adoration of nature and the idealistic expectations of the Hippies reacting against a country at war with Vietnam.
Jack has heart failure and worries about the fate of his isolated Rose almost as much as he loathes the inevitable encroachment of land developers such as Marty Rance (Beau Bridges) who is building houses on the precious wetlands on the opposite side of Jack's island.Jack seeks to solve (control) problems: he invites his girlfriend Kathleen (Catherine Keener) and her two sons Rodney (Ryan McDonald) and Thaddius (Paul Dano) to enlarge his family at the old commune, and he confronts Marty with threats that he will destroy the development project.
Jack reacts in rage then anguish at his failure to provide a secure, healthy future for Rose, and in time gives in to the developers and draws Rose back to him in a final scene that is one of the most touching farewells on film.Daniel Day-Lewis is so completely immersed in his character that he never for a moment loses our compassion.
Daniel Day-Lewis, a rare but welcome presence on our theatre screens, plays Jack, an aging hippie who lives with his daughter Rose (Camilla Belle, in a breathtaking performance) on an otherwise-deserted commune.
Day-Lewis gives a characteristically good performance, but the movie is, surprisingly, much more about Rose than Jack.
Good actors and good acting were not enough to save this movie.The Fathers intentions to become an anarchist hippy and enter a family into it; his intentions to remove his daughter from school at the age of 11 and try to teach her what HE thought were important tools for life for her; his intentions to keep her isolated from wicked society to the point where she was socially and morally stunted; his intentions of springing a nearly moral-free girlfriend and her two boys upon her (when she wasn't even aware that he had one)not because he loved the woman but because he needed someone who'd take care of his daughter when he died (he was ill), were all good intentions.
Daniel Day-Lewis is the Jack of the title, a hippie growing old with health problems, living on an expired commune-haven from the sixties on an island, now being encroached upon by developers.
Daniel is a gifted actor and here he brings intensity with an edge of desperation to the role.Camilla Belle (Rose) plays his look-alike daughter, whose hormones are starting to ignite and the only male she knows is her father who has home-schooled her.Jack is dying and inveigles and bribes his mistress from the mainland to come live on the island with himself and daughter.
It was well observed.But even idealist Jack occasionally needs to escape from his pristine world where he's raising his adoring daughter, for some mainland bonking with girl friend Kathleen (Catherine Keener), and he rashly invites her to come live with him, bringing her two teenage sons and her mainland expectations.
Jack Slavin (Daniel Day-Lewis) and is daughter Rose (Camilla Belle) have lived in solidarity in a commune on an island in the American East Coast.
There are times, perhaps best described as uncomfortable, when lenser Ellen Kuras makes her camera such an integral part of the setting with the characters that you feel like you're eavesdropping on these two families and their troubles."The Ballad of Jack & Rose" takes place in the year 1986 on an island off the East Coast of the United States.
It is clear that they have a very close relationship and, if they had not been father and daughter, we might wonder if they were lovers.Jack is a remnant of the 1960s free love and communal living group, and he and Rose are all that are left of the commune.
IFC produced indie gem with great, subtle acting and impressive novella-type narrative with characters as the film's focal point: to wit, former idealized hippie Jack Slavin (a never been better Daniel Day-Lewis) who lives with his tween daughter Rose (bewitched, beguiled and bewildered newcomer Camilla Belle) in their shared abandoned commune he created with her mother (who left them when she was very young) on a small remote e 'island off the East Coast of the United States' (as the beginning title card tells us over the amusing "I Put A Spell On You" by Creedence Clearwater Revival appropriately setting the tone). |
tt0372588 | Team America: World Police | Team America: World Police exists for the sole intention of stopping terrorists from performing evil deeds. With a home base located within the structure of Mount Rushmore, the team comprises Lisa, a young psychologist; Carson, Lisa's love interest; Sarah, an alleged psychic; Joe, a typical all-American jock who is in love with Sarah; and Chris, a technological and martial arts expert who harbors a deep yet mysterious mistrust of actors. The team is led by Spottswoode, a United States government agent, and the team's information is received by I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E., a highly-advanced supercomputer.The story begins with the team interrupting the activities of a group of terrorists in Paris, France. During the ensuing gun-battle, the "Team" manages to lay waste to a good portion of the city, destroying the Eiffel Tower (which then collapses onto and destroys the Arc de Triomphe) and the Louvre among other structures. Following the action, Carson proposes to Lisa, but the moment is cut short when a surviving terrorist guns Carson down.In search of a new member, Spottswoode recruits Gary Johnston, a Broadway actor with college majors in Theater and World Languages. Gary is hired as a spy, utilizing his talents to infiltrate terrorist organizations. Unbeknownst to the team, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il is supplying international terrorists with weapons of mass destruction, planning a mysterious worldwide attack.I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E. is informed of a terrorist meeting in Cairo, Egypt, and Gary successfully infiltrates their group; during this time, both Lisa and Sarah become romantically attracted to him. Chris, however, hates Gary, solely because of his resentment toward actors.Gary is sent in undercover; despite the fact that his disguise is extremely poor, he successfully gains the trust of a terrorist lieutenant. The team attempts to capture the terrorists, and although Team America successfully foils the terrorist plan, their actions again leave most of the city in ruins. The group is criticized by the Film Actors Guild (F.A.G.), a union of liberal Hollywood actors. The group includes Gary's favorite actor, Alec Baldwin, and his heavy criticism is very discouraging to Gary. Meanwhile, the United Nations assign Hans Blix with the task of inspecting Kim Jong-il's lair, but the investigator is killed by Kim Jong-il's man-eating sharks. As the team relaxes following their victory, Gary expresses his guilt to Lisa, remembering a time where his acting talent caused his brother to be killed by gorillas. As the two express their feelings and have sex (after Gary promises that he'll never die), a group of terrorists blow up the Panama Canal.The Film Actors Guild blames Team America, believing that they (rather than the terrorists or the person who supplied them with WMDs) are responsible for the terrorists' actions. Gary, realizing his acting talents have once again resulted in tragedy, abandons the team, causing considerable conflict among the remaining members. Believing the terrorists to be operating within Derkaderkastan, the original members depart, only to be attacked and captured by terrorists and the North Koreans respectively. Meanwhile, Michael Moore infiltrates the team's base and destroys their equipment by suicide bombing the area. Kim Jong-il, upset with the terrorists' actions, expresses his frustration and despair (by singing "I'm So Ronery").Meanwhile, a very depressed Gary becomes an alcoholic, only to be reminded of his responsibility by a drunken drifter, who compares the world's three dominant personalities to "dicks", "pussies", and "assholes" respectively. Gary then vomits repeatedly for 56 seconds running time.In North Korea, Kim Jong-il reveals his plan to host an elaborate peace ceremony, inviting not only the Film Actors Guild but also the world's political leaders. Alec is chosen as the ceremony's host. During the celebration, a series of bombs will be detonated throughout the world, reducing every nation to a Third World country. Gary returns to Mount Rushmore and finds the area in ruin, although Spottswoode and I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E have survived. After regaining Spottswoode's trust by performing oral sex on him, and undergoing a one-day training course (deliberately shown in a cliché montage for comic effect), Gary is sent to North Korea.Gary proceeds to infiltrate the lair and frees the team. They are confronted by the Film Actors Guild and a violent battle ensues, leaving most of the Guild brutally slain, with Alec being the remaining member as he is the host of the ceremony. Soon after, Chris confesses to Gary that his mistrust of actors is due to the fact that when he was 19 years old, meeting the cast of Cats, he was "felt up" by Rumpus Cat and Macavity, held down by Rumpleteazer, and raped by Mr. Mistoffelees. The team then confront Kim Jong-il. Although initially unsuccessful, Gary convinces the world's leaders to unite when he recites the drifter's emotional speech, stunning Alec. Kim Jong-il then kills Alec with a submachine gun, but is defeated by Lisa by being impaled on a Pickelhaube, as worn by the German Kaiser; and he is then revealed to be an alien cockroach from another planet named Gyron. Kim Jong-il flees, departing in a miniature spaceship, but promising to return. As Gary and Lisa begin a relationship, the team reunites, preparing to combat the remainder of the world's terrorists. | comedy, stupid, cult, violence, humor, satire, entertaining | train | imdb | null |
tt0381849 | 3:10 to Yuma | The legendary outlaw, Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) and his gang have just robbed an armed stage coach carrying the Southern Pacific Railroads payroll. They kill everyone on-board except Pinkerton guard, Byron McElroy (Peter Fonda) whom Charlie Prince (Ben Foster), Wade's right hand man, shoots in the belly. A poor rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) and his two sons, William (Logan Lerman) and Mark (Benjamin Petry), find McElroy and take him to Bisbee, Arizona to find a doctor.Ben Wade separates from his gang and goes to meet with lovely Emma Nelson (Vinessa Shaw) in a nearby saloon, but learning of his presence in town, the sheriff immediately surrounds the building. Dan distracts Ben Wade, who is captured without a shot being fired. Railroad representative Grayson Butterfield (Dallas Roberts) asks for paid volunteers to join McElroy's posse to take Wade to the train station in the town of Contention three days away. The train is due at 3:10, and they must put Wade on the train's prison car bound for Yuma. Once Wade arrives in Yuma, he will receive a quick trial in Federal Court and be hanged. Dan Evans, desperately needing money to save his farm, agrees to help transport Wade to Contention but he must be paid $200. The other paid volunteers who join the posse are Tucker (Kevin Durand) and Doc Potter (Alan Tudyk), the town's veterinarian. Unfortunately for the posse, Charlie Prince sees what has happened to Wade, and he goes after the rest of the gang to help liberate Wade.Despite a deception to fool the gang, the odds move in their favour, and in the end it's Dan's desire to impress his sons that means getting him on the train becomes a personal battle of wills.In a hotel in Contention City, where the remains of the posse hide out, Wade continues to bargain for his freedom. Despite very tempting offers, Evans ignores his pleas. Wade's gang rides into town, and, after locating their boss, recruit as many of the townspeople as possible with an offer of $200 for the successful killing of any member of Evans' posse. The sheriff and his men, previously offering help to Evans, decide to surrender. They are gunned down, and Butterfield, terrified, offers Evans the $200 to just walk away. Evans, realizing the parallels between his current situation and the one in which the government paid for his leg lost in the Civil War, says, "It's funny, if you think about it - which I have been lately - is...they weren't paying me to walk away. They were paying me so they could walk away." Butterfield promises to see Evans' son home, but Evans want Butterfield to promise more than that. Butterfield is convinced to pay off Evans' debts, make sure his water flows, and that he will give $1000 dollars to his wife on Butterfield's return. Butterfield agrees, and he and William hold up in a room down the hall.When the time for action, Evans brings Wade outside and they run for the station. Wade's gang pursues them relentlessly, and they barely make it to the station in one piece. At the very moment that the protagonist Dan Evans is putting Ben Wade onto the prison train, Wade's gang shoots the rancher to death. Ben Wade takes his gun from his right-hand man Charlie Prince and, in an act of vengeance for the rancher who had earned his respect, murders every man of his gang. Ben Wade boards the prison train as a final act of symbolic tribute to the rancher who died getting him there, and whistles for his horse as the train drives into the distance. | violence, dark, murder | train | imdb | 3:10 to Yuma is a true Western in the American film tradition about the 19th-century American West: It has clear heroes and villains (and a mixture of those), wide prairies, dirty towns, fast guns, weak lawmen, cunning murderers, kids on the cusp, and women marginalized, just for starters.Then ratchet up to the philosophical/post modern/post Eastwood reflections on the profession of being a gunman juxtaposed with being a responsible father, and you have an classic angst-filled clash where villain has a wee bit of heart and hero an equal measure of cowardice.
Best of all, it is nail-bitingly suspenseful and beautifully photographed.In order to pickup some home-saving cash, poor crippled farmer Dan Evans (Christian Bale) is helping transport murderer Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to court via the 3:10 to Yuma from Bisbee, Arizona.
Christian Bale (Dan Evans) holds the screen as an honest rancher who volunteers for two hundred dollars to be part of a doomed group of guards to take the enigmatic bandit and killer Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to a train, the 3:10, leaving Bisbee, Arizona for Yuma prison to trial
Beaten down by an old Civil War injury, and unable to protect his farm and his family from Wade's ruthless gang and humiliated by his teenage son (Logan Lerman) who makes no efforts to hide his disappointment in his impoverished father, and who doesn't try to hide the fact that he admires the charismatic criminal, Dan finds a great quantity of reasons to undertake the perilous trip to Contention City to fight back like a real man and regain his son's respect
The story concentrates on Evans whose unknown destiny tries to paint to his son an unforgettable picture turning up poignant and endearing
Wadeleader of a murderous band of robbershad great respect for Dan throughout the film and develops a kind of understanding and appreciation for him
Their short scenes in the hotel room celebrate the virtues of two opposite men who stand up for what they believe stopping on issues in relation with family, dignity, virtue, and admirable integrity
The best scenes are those in which Wade teases Dan: "Your conscience is sensitive, Dan. It's not my favorite part of you." Crowe's interpretation of a gifted cold-blooded smooth-talking bad man is one of the most compelling parts of the film
Bale is splendid as the struggling, crippled rancher, misunderstood by his whole family
The two actors comfortably inhabit this stunning western
It is nice to see that there are still good westerns being made lately
And James Mangold's "3:10 to Yuma," a remake of Delmer Daves' 1957 picture, is one of them
It is a Western with realistic violence, great action sequences, breathtaking photography, and an inevitable final shoot-out.
He gives a sensitive, nuanced performance and holds his own against some powerhouse acting from Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.Russell is the perfect actor to play Ben Wade bringing a depth and humanity to a character who is established early on as a dangerous, ruthless outlaw.
When a sixgun fires a hundred bullets -- instead of only six -- it should be grounds for firing the director because it proves he doesn't know what he's doing.The original 3:10 to Yuma is an eloquent drama about persevering through hardship, being a good role model to your boys and a hero to your wife, and doing the right thing in the face of life-threatening danger while not giving into the temptation to take the easy way out.
Instead of telling a simple story we can relate to, this remake is an exercise in misandry (yes, that's a word, coined in the 1970s) that plays out like a spaghetti western made three decades to late, with ridiculous over-the-top action, sadistic violence, bombastic dialog, and vicious, whining, undignified characters who behave in unbelievable ways.
One of the most important qualities that makes a movie good or not is whether the story, characters and plots are believable and realistic based upon what we know of the story.Christian Bale and Russell Crowe are two phenomenal actors and I'm surprised they signed on for such a pathetic script.How many times did Russell Crowe almost get away?
Ben is just charming his way through the journey, Dan's son, William, is convinced that maybe Ben isn't all that bad, but Dan knows better and is willing to do anything to get Ben onto that train.3:10 to Yuma is one of the year's best, to be honest, I'm thinking about the films this past year, and I would probably rank this as the number one movie.
Whilst the original adaption of the Elmore Leonard story is a nice B-movie, the re-make is a D-script (if D at all ...) filmed with an A-budget and starring a totally miscast "hero" Russel Crowe.My God, what a turkey!
I didn't expect much, but what I got was even less than I could have expected.I know, yeah, a really good western is probably the toughest movie to make (and the last time Hollywood succeeded in doing so was OPEN RANGE and before that Eastwood did one of his best works with UNFORGIVEN), because the settings of the genre are limited and you can't have that much "big/expensive scenes" with explosions, car chases (smile), etc, so you have to rely to a reasonable/good story and some interesting characters, but both is totally lacking here.
In fact the makers of this re-make didn't trust the story at all and threw in all kinda over-the-top action-scenes, which just look much too implausible to be taken seriously.The character of Russel Crowe and especially one of his gang-members is despicable, but of course having a leading man like Russel Crowe (who gives the label "wooden acting" a new meaning), Hollywood can't show him as filthy criminal, but needs to build a hero out of him.
When LEONE had an evil character in his western, he established that right away, of course with a portion of cynicism, for example like in GOOD, BAD, UGLY (EASTWOOD being "good", Lee van Cleef being "bad"), but this 3:10 TO YUMA re-make does in fact take the good side of Wade indeed seriously.And to "balance" that, the movie does of course need somebody really "evil" (to establish how "good" Wade is in comparison) and introduces a silly-staring gang-member, who lets somebody burn inside a carriage.
cowboys of the old west would have and nothing in the movie other than bales character hoping for $200 reward explains why these guys would die off one at a time and ride through hostile Indian territory to get crowe to a train to take him straight to prison with no mention of a trial is just idiocy.
Just saw the sneak preview last night and was excited to see this remake.Very good to the plot and holds true throughout A definite must see movie for all you Western an Lovers out there and a genuine good performance by Russel Crowe as "Ben Wade" as well as Christian Bale an Dan Evans.I loved the original and this did it justice.Go and see 3:10 to Yuma and enjoy Grab a box of popcorn , sit back for a wild west ride.Peace Out!.
The shocking extremes and the sharp contrasts make the movie showy, but disconnected from reality on many levels – from the questionable plot twists to the impossible in the real world characters.As a result, instead of a serious, solid western the 2007 remake ends up being a flashy gimmick with a strong artificial aftertaste and a severe lack of insight into human nature.
The 2007 version, on the other hand, has a disastrous ending that cancels out most of the groundwork that had been painstakingly laid throughout the movie.Overall, unlike the original "3:10 to Yuma", the 2007 remake focuses more on the action and adventure elements and on the gun battles than on the battle of wits and wills between the ordinary rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) and the gang leader Ben Wade (Russell Crowe).In the 2007 version the characters of Ben Wade and his gang of outlaws are grotesquely overdone to the point of being a caricature, more appropriate for a horror or an action movie than for a western.
Watching both films and then drawing your own conclusions is perhaps the best way to determine the "winner".Here is what I think: the 2007 "3:10 to Yuma" is a watchable entertaining show with some good acting by Christian Bale, Russell Crowe, Ben Foster, Peter Fonda, Gretchen Mol, and others.
This one really disappointed me.Yes, the actors Christian Bale and Russel Crowe are magnificent, but the story has so many logical shortcomings and outlaw Ben Wade's (Crowe) actions at the end of the movie would never happen in real life (even if he had a twisted mind, which he really didn't show).
Crowe was excellent in films like Gladiator and American Gangster, Bale was great in Batman Begins and The Prestige, but none of the actors could rescue this movie I'm sad to say..
Some kind of Old West-style Stockholm Syndrome sets in and the rest....well, i don't want to blow the rest, but be careful not to give it any sort of thought.There is some excellent, and original (particularly impressive in this genre) action and this backed up by some interesting characters, but Crowe's characters' actions are so far-fetched, that the whole story collapses and will likely leave all, but the action crowd unsatisfied.This work was first published on realmoviereview.com.
The opening scene contained way to many close ups for my taste as well, but by the time the end credits rolled I was thinking it was even better than I had expected.If you've seen the original, things are pretty much the same except this one is a bit more violent and darker overall, and lets just say the ending isn't the same lolBut what a ending it is!There's good performances all around, though I'm not sure Ben Foster(is that his name) is as good as a lot of the reviews are claiming.
Set in the years immediately following the Civil War, "3:10 to Yuma" is a rip-snortin', old-fashioned Western whose characterizations and performances compensate for an occasionally muddled plot line and a tendency towards implausibility.Christian Bale stars as Dan Evans, a struggling rancher who, for a $200 fee, agrees to help escort a cold-blooded killer to the train that will take him to prison in Yuma, Arizona (at that time a territory, not a state).
Based on the short story by Elmore Leonard ( as well as the 1957 movie derived therefrom), "3:10 to Yuma" is a thoughtful Western drama that nicely balances its requisite shootouts and tough-guy posturing with just enough psychological insight to make the whole thing interesting and worthwhile.The two stars bring a great deal of intelligence and conviction to the roles they've been assigned to play.
The climax of the story may feel a trifle contrived and artificial - we really don't believe that Wade would do what he does at the end - but it isn't enough to spoil the overall effectiveness of the film.James Mangold ("Cop Land, "Walk the Line") has directed the movie with sufficient gusto and energy to counteract some of the verbosity of the screenplay.
Fortunately, the dialogue generally avoids platitudes and clichés - although the action itself is frequently confusing and often geographically inconsistent (i.e. characters who don't have horses seem to arrive at destinations almost as quickly as those who do).In addition to Bale and Crowe, Mangold has elicited excellent performances from Ben Foster as Wade's wiry but creepily bloodthirsty henchman, Charlie; Logan Lerman as Evans' too-big-for-his-britches older son, William; and screen legend Peter Fonda as the hard-bitten bounty hunter, Byron McElroy, who may finally have met his match in the wily Mr. Wade.On a final sour note, the cinematography by Phedon Papamichael is surprisingly dull, muddy and lifeless, an especial disappointment considering the gorgeous Southwestern landscape with which he was given to work.All in all, however, a very fine Western..
It's a shame that in a movie where the director was trying so desperately to make everyone "multifaceted" (to the point of unbelievability) that Prince would come off as so unremittingly evil in EVERY scene in which he appeared.I can't believe that people are comparing this mediocrity to the great old westerns, or to great modern ones ("Unforgiven", for example.) Maybe they're so hungry for the genre that anything with a guy on a horse looks good.
A down-on-his-luck rancher (Christian Bale) attempts to restore some honor to his name, regain the respect of his young sons, and put some money in his pocket by escorting a murderous criminal (Russell Crowe) to the 3:10 train to Yuma prison in James Mangold's update of the 1950's Western of the same name based on a short story by Elmore Leonard.Westerns are a hard sell these days.
Likewise the supporting cast is hit or miss with Logan Lerman showing some decent range as Bale's eldest son while Ben Foster fails miserably at being method as the insane sharp-shooter hellbent on rescuing Crowe from the gallows.The film's saving graces are director Mangold's traditionalist leanings in pacing and Western iconography and the lead performances from Bale and Crowe--two great actors who sometimes resort to scenery-chewing and are shockingly subdued and nuanced here in their multiple physical and mental face-offs.
I do not understand why the need for the delay, contrary to the belief that it is a Western movie which might be an unpopular genre to go into, and of course, I can only recall a handful which made it to cinemas here in recent times - Dances with Wolves, Unforgiven, Tombstone and Wyatt Earp - the last 2 being movies about the legendary lawman and the shootout at OK Corral.Some 50 years ago, audiences were introduced to the duo of impoverished rancher Dan Evans (then played by Van Heflin) and the number one outlaw of the land, Ben Wade (Glenn Ford).
Although the final showdown might be the only thing worth waiting for in this overrated and detached yarn, 3:10 to Yuma manages, in it's own goofy modernized way, to pay tribute to American film's favorite pastime- I can only attribute our country's love for the genre as to why the movie simply was not received as mediocre.Director James Mangold holds a lot of the blame for failing to build up the inevitable showdown through clumsy, unintuitive direction and a distinct lack of authenticity pervading nearly all sets and performances.
I personally did not feel as if this was a movie that would butcher Ford's "3:10 to Yuma." It was in the hands of "Walk the Line's" James Mangold, Academy Award winner Russel Crowe and Christian Bale, the most talented actor in Hollywood.
And giving enough breathing room for actors like Crowe and Bale allow for them to do what they do best.In this near-classic feature that works as a very respecting throwback to tragic tales of doomed men in the guise of typical Hollywood product, while working finitely as a pure action movie for today's audiences, 3:10 to Yuma is taut, precise and superlative as a "guy" flick..
The movie tells the story of outlaw Ben Wade (Russel Crowe) and his gang; and the story of Dan Evans (Christian Bale), the man who took him to the train that would send him to prison.
I enjoyed this film until the ending.Great performance by Christian bale and Russel.Crowe is especially dashing in the film as a truly bad man who we want to believe to ultimately be good.
The whole plot/sreenplay has little credibility if you think about how much shooting there is, who gets shot and who does not and when and why.Only ++s are for cinematography and sound quality.Maybe Mr. Crowe, one of my favorite current actors just wanted to be in an American "Western" like he saw Unforgiven and said "I gotta do one of those." Or more likely the offer to play Ben Wade in this old classic remake was too lucrative to turn down.I have no idea why Crowe made this movie..
Above all it's the fine acting, mainly from the charismatic Russell Crowe as the leader of the gang and Christian Bale as the rancher Dan Evans who is determined to get him on that train, but also from various support performances including the veteran Peter Fonda as a bounty hunter endlessly on Wade's trail and Ben Foster as Wade's psychopathic second-in-command.The very final sequence is too light-hearted for the 122 minutes that have preceded it but, that apart, this is a fine western that manages to combine both exciting action and character delineation in a work that will further enhance the reputation of director James Mangold who did so well with "Walk The Line"..
Although there are better westerns to be found, this one has got its merits because of its great story and reasonably good acting by Russel Crowe and Christian Bale..
When Dan Evans (Christian Bale), a salt-of-the-Earth sharecropper just trying to eek out a decent living for his family, volunteers his services to make sure the seedy criminal Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) catches the 3:10 train to Yuma, the journey turns out to reveal much more about each character.
There was nothing really memorable in the movie for me I just liked the confrontation between Bale and Russell Crowe but that's pretty much the only thing I enjoyed about the film.
It is not the best that I have seen of this genre but with a pretty good story and Crowe and Bale having good performances this a decently enjoyable film that I could watch again..
An excellent movie with four excellent characters ; Christian Bale, Russel Crowe, Ben Foster and the young Logan Lerman !
This character, played solidly by Christian Bale, has one of the best setups I've seen recently - a guy who is ripe for change in his life.Change comes in the form of Ben Wade (Russel Crowe), a dashing rogue just like the kind Dan's son reads about. |
tt0104053 | Trauma | On a dark and rainy night, a chiropractor opens a door to let an unseen patient into her office. When the chiropractor tells the unseen person that "you look familiar", the person knocks out the female chiropractor, takes out a machine-operated wire device and decapitates the woman.Several days later, David Parson is driving around Minneapolis and over a local bridge when he sees a gaunt, dark-haired teenager standing on the edge of the bridge, preparing to jump. David stops his pickup truck and helps the seemingly dazed girl back into the street where they get back into his truck and dive away. They drive to a local restaurant where the girl, speaking with a thick European accent, identifies herself as Aura Petrescu from Romania. She refuses to eat, and David suspects that she has a drug problem when he sees needle marks on her arms, and he shows her his that he too was a junkie. After eating a little bit of bread, Aura leaves for the ladies room where she vomits. After sneaking out a back window, she is grabbed by two men who take her away in a car to the home of her parents. Back inside the restaurant, David realizes that Aura has just stolen his wallet.The two men drop off Aura with her weird mother Adriana, while Aura's father, Stefan, locks her in a bedroom. That evening, many business-like people arrive at the house for a séance conducted by Adriana. While trying to summon a soul, Adriana is possessed and mentions a monster with a noose and threatens everyone with more murders to come. Adriana eventually becomes more violent and runs out of the room, followed by her husband. Aura goes after her parents, only to stumble upon a headless body and looks up to see a black-clad killer holding up the severed heads of her mother and father in the pouring rain.After making a phone call, Dr. Judd arrives where he asks Aura about what she saw. Soon, the police, led by Captain Travis, arrive to investigate the killings and question Aura about exactly what she saw. Aura gets away from the police and tracks down David, by using his ID from his stolen wallet, where she tells him about her parents murder and needs a place to stay.Meanwhile, Gabriel, a young boy, apparently lives next door to the killer when he sees an unseen person leave a decapitated head sitting by the window to stare at the boy all night.Later that same night, David awakens to find food laying all over his house and Aura vomiting in the bathroom. The following morning, David, who works as a storyboard sketch artist at a local TV station, arrives for work where he confides in his friend, Arnie, about Aura's problem. Arnie infers that Aura may have anorexia nervosa.The following night, Aura sees David and his reporter girlfriend, Grace, having sex in his bedroom. Disturbed by the sight, Aura runs out of the house, and David is forced to run after her where he's forced to tell Grace about Aura and her problems. The next day, Arnie and David watch a collection of news stories on the recent murders and realized that they all occurred when it was raining. David receives a phone call from Aura who has been taken away. He learns from an apparent covetous Grace that she told Dr. Judd of Aura's whereabouts. David angrily breaks up with Grace and tells her that Aura witnessed the murder of her parents and that the killer may come after her.Meanwhile, Dr. Judd tries to help Aura remember what she may have seen the night her parents were murdered, but he is unsuccessful at extracting any more details. As night falls, David visits the Faraday Clinic where he sneaks in and attempts to find Aura. But the unseen killer has followed him there and forces his way in as well and decapitates one of the clinics doctors. David helps Aura escape and they hide out at his house. Aura reveals that she had stolen a set of keys form the murdered doctor and a key chain as the word 'Marigold' inscribed on it.The next day, David and Aura follow the source of the keys which leads to a local storage locker where they manage to find a photograph of several doctors before the police arrive to confiscate the stuff in the locker which they add up to another murder victim of the so-called Head Hunter. Meanwhile, one of the doctors, named Linda Quick, is telling her girlfriend about the recent murders and that she and the doctors were involved several years ago in an accident involving electro convulsive therapy and something awful. David phones her to ask about the murdered doctors, and Linda immediately hangs up. David and Aura go to visit Linda, but the frightened Linda speeds away in her car. David and Aura drive around looking for her when they finally see the car parked in a motel parking lot. Linda's girlfriend, still at the house, receives a call from Linda and writes down Linda's hotel room number. But the killer arrives and kills Linda's girlfriend and sees from the notepad where Linda is.While David and Aura stake out the motel, the killer arrives, triggers the building sprinkler system (for the rain effect), breaks into Linda's room and beheads her too. David arrives too late to find Linda's decapitated body, but the killer has fled before taking Linda's head with him. The severed head of Linda manages to whisper to David the name "Lloyd" before expiring. David sees and takes a medical bag of Linda's displaying the name St. Bartholomew Hospital.David goes to the hospital, but learns that Dr. Lloyd no longer works here. David finds Dr. Lloyd living on the streets as a junkie drug dealer. Lloyd becomes frightened when David tells him about the recent murders, and refuses to talk with him. David gives Lloyd his phone number and tells him to call if he needs him. Before long, the killer finds Lloyd by tailing him back to a derelict warehouse where Lloyd resides. The killer attacks Lloyd in the same way as with the previous victims by hitting him in the back of the neck with a hammer, and attempts to decapitate Lloyd with the wire device, but the wire snaps. So, the killer is forced to drag Lloyd's still-living, but imobilized body to an elevator shaft and allows a decending elevator car to decapitate Lloyd. Lloyd's severed head falls down the elevator shaft. A little later, the police arrive to investigate the crime scene and discover David's phone number on a note.That night, Dr. Judd arrives at David's house where he tries to persuade Aura to leave with him. David wakes up and a struggle ensures, but Judd runs when the cops arrive to arrest David in connection to Lloyd's murder. Judd speeds away and the police give chase, but his car runs off the road and into a tree. The car truck pops open and inside are all the missing severed heads. Before dying from his injuries, Dr. Judd whispers to a policeman, "I loved her". David is released and runs back to his house to find Aura gone and note declaring "I've gone to join my mother." David finds her nightgown by the lake next to his house and is very distraught thinking that Aura has just drowned herself.With the death of Dr. Judd and the discovery of the severed heads, the Headhunter Murders are considered solved, but David goes into a decline over his loss of Aura. Over the next few days, David resumes his own drug use. Disheartened, he becomes addicted more to prescription drugs. He attempts to feign a prescription, but gets found out and is punched by a pharmacist when he refuses to return the pills. While sitting down on a sidewalk, David sees a person walk by who he believes is wearing Aura's bracelet. David follows the unseen person to a house which is the killer's. Gabriel, standing outside, tells David that he saw someone in a black coat go into the house.David knocks on the front door and says to the unseen person who answers: "Sorry, I thought you were someone else". Believing that he has seen Aura reflected in a rain barrel, David crawls though an open window on the side of the house. He enters a child's room with the name of "Nicholas" written everywhere where he finds a decomposed baby with its severed head in a crib. David is knocked out. He awakens in the basement chained up to a wall with Aura by his side. David soon learns that Aura's mother is still alive.Adriana arrives where she tells David that many years ago, while she was giving birth to her son, her newborn infant was accidentally decapitated by Dr. Lloyd who froze during a blackout in the delivery room during a sudden rainstorm. In an effort to make Adriana forget the horrible accident, and to cover it up, Dr. Lloyd and all the other nurses subjected Adriana to excessive electro-shock therapy. But the process only made Adriana insane and filled with her a resolve to kill all those doctors in the same way her baby was killed. David uses his chains to restrain the gated cage door, and Adriana forces it open with a fireplace poker, in which a support pillar tears open part of the ceiling. Standing above them is Gabriel, who jumps down and uses Adriana's portable wire saw to decapitate Adriana. | avant garde, murder, violence, horror, flashback, psychedelic, revenge | train | imdb | The variations between the movies, then, come from the genre accidentals "Profondo Rosso" is a detective thriller, "Suspiria" an occult conspiracy tale, etc.; Argento seems to come along and apply his own unique vision of the giallo onto whatever horror style is fashionable at the time.
It's his uniqueness, rather than his ability to produce great films, that has assured his place in the canon.So, then, "Trauma" turns out to be exactly what we would expect from an early nineties Dario Argento film.
Odd plot, check, arbitrary title, check, bad acting, check Asia Argento actually manages to make Aura a likable character, but you can't deny that she garbles her lines and seems mostly amateurish throughout.
Italian horror master Dario Argento's only venture into American film-making was this tight, unique thriller.Young man tries to help a troubled anorexic girl catch the 'head-hunter' killer that murdered her parents.Trauma is a film that has been given the shaft by many critics, including some of Argento's own fans.
Also different from the other works of Argento, this film is rather light on gore, but still manages to have some shocking murder sequences thanks to some wild set-ups.
And he's hugely successful at it, too.Trauma has a lot of great set pieces, some great scenes of extreme violence and gore to spare,a cleverly plotted and written story, decent performances from Rydell and Asia and genuine old fashioned suspense.
TRAUMA Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Technovision)Sound format: Dolby StereoA TV newsroom artist (Mark Rydell) helps a distraught anorexic (Asia Argento) to investigate the death of Argento's mother (Piper Laurie) at the hands of a monstrous serial killer.Though often cited as the film which signalled a creative downturn in Dario Argento's career, TRAUMA is actually a much better entry than its reputation suggests.
Indeed, far from providing evidence of 'creative decline', TRAUMA is actually a fine addition to Argento's filmography, and is ripe for reappraisal.Despite its American setting, the film is defiantly European in style and execution, employing ultra-wide scope framing, inventive camera-work (including a bizarre shot from the point-of-view of a butterfly!!), ornate narrative structure and eccentric characterizations.
The cast is a typical Argentonian mixed bag: Asia portrays the same joyless harpy she's played in all her collaborations with Argento to date (including THE STENDHAL SYNDROME and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA), leaving Rydell to shoulder most of the film's emotional burden as a young man who learns to accept Asia's flaws whilst simultaneously falling in love with her (few) virtues.
Laurie makes much of her limited screen time as Asia's domineering mother, while Brad Dourif (the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy) plays a former doctor whose guilty conscience comes back to haunt him in the worst possible way.
Not One Of Argento's Masterpieces - But Definitely Not Bad. Dario Argento's "Trauma" of 1993 is definitely one of this great director's lesser films, but it is nevertheless a more than decent Thriller and better than most 90s Horror films.
As far as I am considered, however, Argento is one of the greatest Horror directors of all-time, and films like "Suspiria", "Profondo Rosso" or "Phenomena" range high in my personal all-time favorite list.
Even Argento's weaker films are usually above average, and "Trauma" is a more than decent film that easily outshines the majority of 90s Horror efforts.Director Argento's daughter, then 18-year-old Asia Argento stars as Aura, a teenage Romanian girl who has escaped from a mental hospital where her parents sent her, supposedly to cure her anorexia.
Journalist David (Christopher Rydell) wants to help the girl...Generally speaking, "Trauma" has everything decent Horror films need - it is stylishly filmed, atmospheric and very suspenseful from the beginning to the end.
The supporting cast contains Frederic Forest, Brad Dourif and Piper Laurie.As mentioned above, "Trauma" is certainly not one of Argento's masterpieces.
Things only get worse for poor Aura when she returns home to her parents (her mother played by Piper Laurie is a seer) are soon killed by a serial killer by the name of 'Head Hunter'.
Aura attempts to get answers (with the help of the good Samaritan) as she fights her weakened state, the clinic personal and the serial killer.Dario Argento once again mines the familiar giallo territory in this, his first American co-production.
Trauma is a particularly significant horror in that it was the first film to be made by Italian genre master Dario Argento on American soil.
While the tropes are there - an everyman (Christopher Rydell) is forced into sleuthing while dodging the police - it does little but frustrate as you realise that somewhere, deep down, there's probably a great giallo trying to get out.So while the film has it's odd moment, the result is an incoherent, and somehow quite boring, mess of ideas and clashing styles.
Starting promisingly, the story goes on to place anorexia sufferer Aura (Asia Argento, the director's then 17 year-old daughter) in the hands of illustrator David (Rydell) after her parents are murdered by the masked killer, and it is during this period that the film does nothing but lay out a string of red herrings, as well as creepily leering at Argento's youthful beauty.
Dario Argento's first American film is very very good but not great like "Deep Red" and "Suspiria" were.
Finally, the presence of several acting vets (including James Russo, Brad Dourif, Frederic Forrest, and an excellent Piper Laurie) don't hurt at all."Trauma" is not Argento's best movie, and certainly pales in comparison to movies like "Deep Red", "Suspiria", and "Inferno." As it stands though, it's an underrated movie, and worth a look, especially if you are an Argento fan..
Despite this, Argento's skillful POV shots (the hospital sequence is especially impressive) imbue the film with an efficient mood of dread, and the story, once fully revealed, makes a bit more sense than the director's earlier, more artistic efforts.
"Trauma" is definitely not the best film he's ever done, and by no far the worst either, but it's just not up there with (Deep Red, Suspiria, Tenebre and A Bird With A Crystal Plummage).The set up is good and the acting is top-notch especially Asia Argento, she's a talented actress.
"Dario Argento's Trauma" is better than expected, even if it doesn't match his previous works.**SPOILERS**After failing a suicide attempt, Aura Petrescu, (Asia Argento) is captured and returned to the Farraday Clinic, where her mother Adriana, (Piper Laurie) is concerned for her behavior.
Italian's top-class horror director Dario Argento obviously impressed some people with his previous films ('Opera' in particular) as he was offered the opportunity to film a fully American backed production.
Dario Argento scraping bottom.As the director's stylistic flourishes seem to be muted by the American setting - although there are some small moments here and there that work -, you're left with one of those silly giallo plots full of cheap and exploitative psychology, random narration, amateurish performances - the only decent acting's done by Brad Dourif - and no logic at all.There's a certain fascination to be gained watching rubbish like this.
Argento's real-life daughter (and European sex symbol) Asia Argento plays a young anorexic who witnesses the decapitation murder of her parents by a serial killer known as `The Head Hunter' who only kills when it's raining.
Although it's not quite as lavish as, say, Suspiria or Opera, there are some typically inventive touches that raise this above other early-90s slasher movies of its kind (for example, the killer uses a mechanical device with a razor-sharp wire to decapitate victims, and some heads continue to move and even speak for a few seconds after they've been cut off.) A great oddball cast (including eccentric character actor Brad Dourif, Frederic Forrest as the suspicious, unconventional doc, and Piper Laurie as Asia's batty, phony-medium mom) make it even more enjoyable -- but, honestly, this movie has one of the most unusual and seemingly out-of-place opening and closing credits sequences of any movie I've ever seen.HIGHLIGHT: When the wire on the decapitation device snags on Dourif's necklace, the unruffled killer compensates by dragging him over to an elevator shaft and pushing his head under the descending elevator car..
It is perhaps his first foray into the Americanized 'slasher' genre as we know it, which is okay, but apparently someone forgot to tell him that the year was 1993 and that tactics used for slasher films that heavily populated the 80's was not cool anymore.The second mistake Dario Argento is guilty of is casting his daughter, Asia Argento as the main lead in "TRAUMA".
Unlike Dario's earlier films such as "PROFONDO ROSSO" and "TENEBRE" where the killer is revealed at the end and his/her motives satisfy the viewer once you look back at all the pieces that finally fit the complex puzzle, the motive for all the murders in this movie is highly preposterous and quite ridiculous.All of Dario's trademarks from his earlier films are nowhere to be found in "TRAUMA".
I'm big fan of Dario Argento movies and was hoping something great entertainment and music in this film but I was very disappointed with the story, suspense, music, atmosphere & killings which I have always found on the top in other films given by Dario Argento.
While it isn't my personal favorite Argento film(that was Suspiria), it is probably his most accessable and good place to start if you haven't seen any of his other works before.
Dario Argento's 1993 Giallo is a mixed bag, it's a film on his CV that his fans readily accept shows the best and worst of the goremeister's bent.Asia Argento plays a troubled young woman with a eating disorder who runs away from a psychiatric hospital.
It may also be because Argento unwisely allowed nepotism get the better of him and unwisely cast his inexperienced daughter Asia in the lead role.Whatever the reason, Trauma is certainly a far cry from the director's classics such as Deep Red or Tenebre, lacking the excellent camera-work (to me, the butterfly-cam felt like he was trying a tad TOO hard), precise editing, stunning soundtrack, and stylish death sequences of these earlier works.The one factor that Argento does retain from his Italian films is a ludicrous plot; unfortunately, without the other outlandish elements to distract the viewer's attention from the dumb story, the film flounders in its own idiocy.In Trauma, Christopher Rydell plays David Parsons, a young man who becomes involved in a deadly mystery after preventing Aura (Asia Argento), an anorexic girl who witnessed the murder of her parents (by a maniac with a hand-held decapitation machine), from committing suicide.Dario Argento, who is often referred to as the 'Italian Hitchcock', has fun referencing both Rear Window (by having a young lad spy on the killer from his bedroom window) and also Psycho (with a shower scene that mimics certain shots from the 1960 horror classic), but on this occasion, however, the director is definitely not worthy of the comparison: he delivers a lacklustre and infuriatingly silly effort that took me three viewings to get through.The pacing of the film is dreadful (for example, David's descent into drug addiction towards the end of the film happens in the blink of an eye), the acting is awful (Piper Laurie overacts; Asia Argento doesn't act) and even the gore FX by the usually reliable Tom Savini do not impress.Moreover, the film is not in the least bit scary, and often elicits laughs rather than screams: in a couple of the film's daftest moment, the just-severed head of a murder victim manages to utter a few words to the hero, and, after a decapitation by an elevator, another head is seen screaming as it falls down the shaft!!Perhaps the most disturbing moment of the whole film, in my mind, was the brief topless shot of buxom Asia: maybe it's just me with my uptight British sensibilities, but filming your own daughter with her norks out just doesn't seem right!.
This film lacks almost everything that makes Argento great; the music is largely misplaced and fails to have the same creepy effect that it did in his previous films, the film lacks any real atmosphere, the characters aren't introduced in any memorable way so it's hard to keep track of them and the death scenes weren't nearly as creative or bloody as his earlier works.
That being said, Trauma is nowhere near as bad as some would have you believe; a mediocre Argento is still better than a lot of thrillers of the same ilk, it's just that with Argento, horror fans have come to expect more and this doesn't deliver on the same level that his other movies do.Many a talented director has made the journey overseas to America, and the results are usually not very good.
The rest of the movie is filled with an interesting cast, including Christopher Rydell, Piper Laurie, Frederic Forrest and Brad Dourif; who has a disappointing amount of screen time.Trauma does feature some nice aspects, such as the trademark Argento sequence in which the main character sees something but only notices the most important thing later on, and a very eerie séance, but it also features a lot of lackluster sequences too.
Overlong and dull Dario Argento horror film even lacks the director's trademark style of direction.
This is basically everything that you would come to expect from a late 1980's / early 1990's slasher / horror movie.However, given the predictability of the movie, then "Trauma" wasn't really much of an enjoyable experience, and there weren't any scares to be found anywhere.Director Dario Argento have some pretty nice titles to his name, "Trauma", however, is not really one of them.It was hard to get submerged into the story, because it was slow paced and rather mundane and dull.
And the mediocre acting performances throughout the movie weren't really helping the movie along in a nice way either.If you enjoy Dario Argento's work, then there are far better pieces in the collection.
TRAUMA is the fourth Dario Argento film I've seen for the first time and given that I've not yet seen the films considered to be his best just yet, this will be a review that won't compare it to films like SUSPIRA, INFERNO, DEEP RED, PHENOMENA and TENEBRE which I haven't seen but rather to OPERA, MOTHER OF TEARS and THE STENDHAL SYNDROME which are the only ones I have seen aside from TRAUMA.After I watched it I mainly thought this film was really weird, script wise the plot was really good and had an interesting twist to it, on a technical side the camera work was great, I just loved the style in which the camera was used, constantly moving and there were some strange angles at times, aside from all this the acting was rather dull and the score of the film was actually strange too, at times it played in scenes where it wasn't really needed and where it was needed it didn't really fit in with the scene.TRAUMA is also very low on gore and the violence in it which involves decapitations are very tame compared to the other three films I've seen and given that Tom Savini created some of the effects for the film, you would think it would showcase his work just like the other films he worked on did.The overall strange thing about it is is that it has its good points like the plot and the camera work and it has its bad points like the acting and the score, they almost balance each other out in some odd way.As far as recommending it goes, this might be a good place to start if you're just getting into Argento's films.
It's actually kind of hard to comment on this movie, because the fact is- like all of the rest of Argento's movies, it makes absolutely no sense, and I'm convinced the man was doing heavy drugs at the time he mad every one of his films.
This film follows an unseen murderer who is committing acts of violence in response to a past "trauma." We've seen Argento handle this same story before with much better results (see Tenebre).
Both David & Aura decide to investigate the killings themselves as headless bodies continue to pop up all over the place...This Italian American co-production was written, produced & directed by Dario Argento who is well known for this type of film, Trauma certainly isn't his best but at the same time it's far from his worst.
One more thing, I hated the talking decapitated heads & I'm pretty sure that decapitated heads can't speak.Director Argento is widely known amongst horror fans for his style & visually stunning films like Deep Red (1975), Suspiria (1977), Inferno (1980), Tenebre (1982) & Opera (1987).
The acting wasn't anything special & for some reason Argento makes his real life daughter Asia go topless...Trauma is a decent murder mystery as long as you just go with it & not pick to many holes in it & ignore the talking decapitated heads.
I think it's definitely worth a watch especially if you like Argento or horror films in general..
That boy notices the wire-machine that the killer uses to collect his/her head-trophies and will play a specific part at the end.A decent Argento effort is better than a lot of horror directors' really good work and TRAUMA has a visual polish and style(..not to mention ghoulish, sometimes humorous, beheadings)that makes up for a rather tacky ending..an ending I just didn't really buy into.
ANOTHER SPOLIER: the way the killer is killed is pretty dumb (SPOLIER: a stupid kid saves the day), but alot of the film is very fun and those who love Argento will probably like it, but it's certainly is no Suspiria.Your best fiend in horror movie reviews: Jesse Tucker.
I feel bad for Savini that he was so hamstrung on this project.Piper Laurie also appears in this movie, as Asia Argento's nutty mom. |
tt0049363 | Indestructible Man | We open with a scene of the indestructible man on top of gantry crane at an electrical power generating station and the credits. Lt. R. Chasen is dictating his report of the case and tells the story of the Indestructible Man in flashback.We are outside the gates at San Quentin prison in California. This is the final stop for Charles "Butcher" Benton (Lon Chaney, Jr.); he is scheduled for execution in the gas chamber the next day. He is visited by his attorney, Paul Lowe (Ross Elliott). Lowe tells Benton his appeal was unsuccessful. Benton, while not surprised, is angry. He calls him a liar and a double crosser. Benton was part of a gang that stole $600,000 in an armored car robbery that Lowe masterminded. Two of his accomplices turned state's evidence, at the urging of Lowe. But Benton hid the money from his gang, and Lowe wants it. He tries to convince Benton to give it to him, but Benton vows to take revenge on all involved and take the location of the money to the grave.Down in Los Angeles, in a seedy bar, Joe Marcelli (Ken Terrell) and Squeamy Ellis (Marvin Ellis) are having a drink and listening to the radio report of Benton's pending execution. In his office at police headquarters, Lt. Chasen (Max Showalter, credited as Casey Adams) is reading the local paper when Capt. John Lauder (Stuart Randall) enters his office. Chasen is told that with Benton's execution the case is being marked as closed and he will be reassigned. Chasen spent a year on the case and is not happy to have it end without the recovery of the money. He vows to continue working on the case on his own time, as he is convinced Lowe was the mastermind.Chasen pays a visit to the local strip club to talk to Eva Martin (Marian Carr), the "girlfriend" of Benton's, hoping to get some information. Eva informs him that she and Benton were not involved. He was seeing her roommate, and when the roommate left town, she and Benton just struck up a friendship. She is emphatic that she was unaware of his criminal past and any knowledge of the robbery. Satisfied, he exits the club. He notices Lowe walking towards the club. He pretends to have his shoes shined while hiding behind a magazine so he can spy on Lowe. Lowe enters the club, walks upstairs and enters Eva's dressing room. The time is 5:00 p.m. and Benton has been executed. Eva feels bad for Benton and retrieves a letter he left for her in case he was executed. But before she can examine the contents, she's called back to the stage for her finale. She leaves Lowe behind in the dressing room. He quickly opens the letter and finds a very cryptic map with an "x" marking the location of something. He palms the map and puts a $50 bill back in the envelope and seals it. We are told in voiceover that its a map of the sewer system and the location of the stolen money.In San Francisco, Dr. Bradshaw (Robert Shayne) a "distinguished Biochemist is making preparations for a final experiment which he hoped would lead the way to a cure for cancer." His assistant (Joe Flynn) arrives with the body of Benton. He procured the body from a local mortuary under questionable circumstances. Bradshaw prepares the body, takes a blood sample, and wheels him into the machine. He runs 287,000 volts through the body. They intend to dissect the body after the experiment. The voltage causes his heart to start beating. Bradshaw dismisses it as "a shock reaction, it can't last." They pull the body out of the machine. Bradshaw sends his assistant out for some medications while he examines the body. Benton begins to move, much to Bradshaw's astonishment. He appears alive and aware of his surroundings. He sits up, then stands, and then knocks Bradshaw out with a mere brush of his arm. We are told in voiceover that the voltage burned out his vocal chords, rendering Benton mute. The voltage increased his strength. In his bid to escape the lab he pushes a door off its hinges. Bradshaw wakes as Benton returns to the lab. Bradshaw tries to reason with Benton. His assistant returns, shocked that Benton was up and walking around. Bradshaw warns him that Benton is violent. Bradshaw tries to take a blood sample, but the needle bends; his skin is a solid mass of cells. Benton attacks and kills Bradshaw and his assistant. Benton decides he wants to return to Los Angeles and seek revenge on his three accomplices.Chasen returns to the strip club to see Eva again, but this time it is a social call. They go out on a date to a burger joint. She tells him her life story, he reciprocates. Chasen has been tailing Lowe, and eavesdropping on some of his phone conversations. He is intrigued by just one. He watches Joe Marcelli cross the street, on a pair of crutches, for a meeting with Lowe. In the bar, Joe gets into a confrontation with an old lush (Madge Cleveland) and Harry, the bar owner (Robert Foulk). Lowe has a job for him--to help him recover the money. They are to meet the next day.Benton is walking along a quiet road on his way back to Los Angeles, when he sees a beautiful woman (Rita Green) standing next to a car with a flat tire. As he approaches, Carnie (Eddie Marr) pops out and introduces himself. He tells Benton the car has a flat tire, and he has no tools to change it. Benton pushes the two aside and lifts the car up. Carnie replaces the tire and expresses interest in hiring Benton for his carnival act. Benton kills Carnie and steals the car and continues on his trek for Los Angeles. The police respond with roadblocks. When Benton encounters one, he attacks and kills the two policemen and continues on his way.The next morning Chasen reports in with the Captain. He is informed he and the rest of the force are going on 24-hour duty. Benton, back in Los Angeles, stops by the strip club to see Eva. Eva is shocked to see Benton. He shows her a tattoo to prove his identity. He sees his envelope and opens it. She explains that all it contained was a $50 bill and that Lowe was there when she opened it. Benton leaves and intends to get Squeamy and Joe. Eva calls the police. She asks for Chasen, but is told he is out. She leaves a message that Benton is alive. Immediately she calls Squeamy Ellis and tells him the same, but he doesn't believe her. He did think Benton arranged a hit man, so he takes the warning seriously enough to make arrangements for a quick escape from his apartment down the fire escape. Benton hops on Angels Flight funicular and rides up to Squeamy's apartment. When he hears Benton outside his room he makes good his escape. Eva arrives in time to see Benton at Squeamy's apartment window. Joe, unaware of Benton's escape, is on his way to see Squeamy. Having no money, he bypasses Angels Flight, and walks up the stairs on his crutches. Benton sees his prey from the window and leaves the apartment to confront him. Joe sees Benton just outside the apartment, and tries to escape, but his bad foot slows him down. Benton lifts him up and throws him down a flight of stairs, killing him instantly. The police arrive and shoot Benton, but with no effect at all. Benton kills the policeman.Next on his list is the attorney. He enters the Bradbury Building, and takes the elevator up to Lowe's office. He breaks in and disables the phone. Benton is delighted that Squeamy decides to visit Lowe at his office. As Ellis exits the elevator, Benton is there waiting for him. Ellis empties his revolver into Benton then backs into the elevator. Benton grabs him, lifts him overhead, walks over to the railing and tosses him down five stories to the lobby below. When Eva arrives at the Bradbury Building she sees a crowd gathered around the body of Squeamy Ellis. A short time later, Launer and Chasen arrive and are told the killer must have been wearing a bullet-proof vest. Launer and Chasen are told of a reported sighting of Benton in the Valley. They question a woman (Marjorie Stapp). She describes Benton and the murder of her boyfriend.When Lowe hears a radio report in his car about the death of Joe and that Benton was identified as the killer he stops by the strip club to see Eva. Eva isn't there, but Francine (Peggy Maley) is filling in for her. Francine tells Lowe that Eva is at Police Headquarters. Lowe drives over to the station, and Eva tells him both Joe and Squeamy are dead and Benton is alive. Lowe immediately demands police protection. Chasen demands to know where the money is located. To guarantee his own safety, Lowe provokes arrest by slugging the Sergeant (Roy Engle).Chasen devises a plan to get Lowe to speak. He intends to release him from custody and let Benton track him down. Captain Launer is very reluctant to approve, but finally agrees to the plan. It works and Lowe talks. That leads them to the sewers and the exact location of the money. Benton has been traveling around in the Los Angeles storm drains as the police zeroed in on his exact location. They were advised that a flamethrower might be an effective weapon. Benton locates the money and starts stuffing it into his coat. One police officer shoots him with a bazooka, but it only slows him down a little. Launer recovers the money from the strongbox. When next he is spotted they employ the flamethrower. Other than melting his face a little, it has no effect on stopping him. Benton makes his way to the power station and commandeers a gantry crane. The crane brushes against a large transformer and a surge of electricity passes through the crane killing Benton.Back in Chasen's office, he finishes up his report and closes the case. He asks the Captain for a little time off. Chasen and Eva are back at the burger joint in his car on a date. He informs her he had arranged her dismissal from her job. He tells her being his wife will take up all her time. They kiss. | violence, murder | train | imdb | Lon picks up some quick pocket money playing Charles "Butcher" Benton (we are never told how he got the nickname and maybe are better off for not knowing) a career criminal railroaded to the gas chamber by his ex-partners.
The cast is great, apart from Lon Chaney and Robert Shayne (NEANDERTHAL MAN, INVADERS FROM MARS, etc) there is also Ken Terrell (ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN), Casey Adams (THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD) and don't go for popcorn or you'll miss an unbilled Joe Flynn as a lab assistant.
A bizarre scientific experiment brings him back to life via a massive dose of electricity, which destroys his vocal cords but makes his skin impenetrable, thus becoming the `Indestructible Man.' The story revolves around the Butcher seeking revenge on those who double-crossed him and a zealous police lieutenant chasing he and a missing $600,000 down, with said policeman, (the versatile Casey Adams), falling in love with the Butcher's would-be love interest, (Marion Carr).
Now as to the Noir aspects, the film is shown in a semi-documentary style like many Film Noir movies and features the usual narration--this time by the detective working on the case.
This is another one of these "not bad" sci-fi/horror/crime/drama/whatever you want to label it 1950s B-films.The cast actually has some fine actors, men like Casey Adams who starred in "Niagara" with some no-name dames called Marilyn Monroe and Jean Peters, and Lon Chaney, a familiar name among fans of this genre.The is the tried-and-true revenge story.
Oh, the assistant is Joe Flynn, also of TV fame (McHale's Navy.) I'm telling you, this had a pretty good cast.Well, Charles "The Butcher" Benton (Chaney) is brought back to life, much to the surprise of the doctor and his assistant.
Lon Chaney Jr.'s presence completes the circle.Insert the preceding Frankenstein ingredient into the Maltese Falcon, dumb it down a bit but not too much, and you have "Indestructible Man" in a nutshell.Keep an eye out for Max Showalter as the Lieutenant on the killer's trail.
Chaney Jr. starred in several really good horror gems ("Spider Baby", "House of Dracula") but also in many overlooked B-movies like this "Indestructible Man".
Even though filmed on a minuscule budget, "Indestructible Man" is a very entertaining crime/horror movie with fairly good acting and a couple of nice special effects.
The body of a violent criminal, 'Butcher' Benton(Lon Chaney Jr), is accidentally brought back to life and the speechless bad man is determined to kill the three people responsible for his ride in the electric chair.
Lon Chaney's face will remind you of jello as too many close-ups of Chaney's face dominate this cheesy, very low budget film.Chaney is Butcher Benton a penny ante criminal who's been set-up by his lawyer and gangster pals.
Fans of his will be interested to know that this is a semi of remake of Man Made Monster (1941) the movie which typecast him in horror genre.Here he plays a robber sentenced to death and he has the nickname Butch so I assume he also killed people, he's bought back to life via a Frankenstein type way but the electricity has damaged his vocal cords, fans of Chaney Jr will know that because of his alcohol problem he often asked for his dialogue be eliminated, entirely if possible so apart from the opening scene he has no dialogue.
The detective hot on his trail is Max Showalter and he narrates the story similar to Friday in the TV show Dragnet.While everything else in the movie is fine the good work of the cast and crew is tainted a little bit the silly romantic sub plot with the detective and Chaney's ex girlfriend played by Marian Carr, in my opinion it seemed forced and didn't do anything for the story.All in all a must see for fans of Lon Chaney Jr or fans of 1950's B horror movies..
Minor sci-fi horror flick about an executed murderer (Lon Chaney, Jr.) brought back to life by a scientist (Robert "Inspector Henderson" Shayne).
This movie tells the story of a man whom the authorities call 'The Butcher' (Lon Chaney Jr.) who is scheduled to be executed at the State Prison without revealing where the stolen loot is hidden.
It's never as bad as Ed Wood's films, but it's a gem.Lon Chaney Jr. Plays the Butcher a convicted killer, who is put to death by the electric chair.
HE'S NOT DEAD...he's just p***** off now and it's time to get revenge on the low life ex-gangster friends of his who helped set him up.In a way I look at Chaney and this film as the original Terminator.Besides the film's campy charms and numerous close-ups of Chaney's worn, fleshy face the film boasts some interesting location work showing an area of Los Angeles complete with cable cars, called Angel's Flight levelled in the late 50's in a down-town revitalization project.I know some others have rated this low...
300,000 Volts Of Fun. I did get to have one wacky film experience over the weekend, and that film was the 1956 Lon Chaney, Jr. outing "Indestructible Man." This movie was originally shown as part of a double feature for the kiddies back when, paired with one of my favorite sci-fi shlock adventures ever, "World Without End," for one truly mind-boggling afternoon at the movies.
He is indeed put to death, but soon after, his body is sold to a scientist (Robert Shayne, who most viewers will remember from his role of Inspector Henderson on TV's "Adventures of Superman," and whose work I recently enjoyed in the 1953 film "The Neanderthal Man") who is doing experiments regarding a cancer cure.
(I wish MY name were Dick Chasen!) He is played by an actor whose face you will recall, and whose name is sometimes given as Casey Adams, and sometimes as Max Showalter; you will probably best recall him from his role in the Marilyn Monroe breakthrough film "Niagara." Ultimately, Dick teams up with Butcher's last galpal, a burlesque dancer played by Marian Carr, who seems to wear nothing but her burlesque outfit wherever she goes, providing the film with some undeniable visual appeal....OK, I'm not gonna lie to you and say that "Indestructible Man" is a quality film, but at 70 minutes, it surely never does wear out its welcome.
As for Chaney, he gets very little dialogue in the film, which dialogue is limited to his prison cell, before he is put to death; after he is revivified, his vocal cords have apparently been burnt to cinders by those 300,000 volts, forcing the big lug to limit his acting to grimacing, and squinting up his eyes in a fairly menacing manner.
Lon Chaney, Jr. stars in this most low budget science fiction/noir thriller about a man who comes back from the dead with no voice and more of a one track mind that Moose Malloy in Murder My Sweet.
When scientists Robert Shayne and Joe Flynn make an under the table deal for the body, they shoot it with electricity, Frankenstein style, and Chaney comes to life, even though his vocal cords have burned to a cinder and has no voice.
His skin and bones have become almost like Superman, he's truly an Indestructible Man.The film is narrated by Max Showalter the detective on the original armored car heist.
Bullets bounce off him just like Superman, even a flame thrower just burns him, and a bazooka only slows him down a bit.There are two female roles of importance, Marian Carr as Chaney's girl friend as described by the papers and her best friend and fellow stripper Peggy Maley who always has a good wisecrack in any film she's ever in.You can't rate the film all that high, the production values are almost non-existent.
Lon Chaney Jr. gets to play a caricature composite of some of his father's great horror role as a vicious criminal brought back to life by mad scientist Robert (Inspector Henderson) Shayne.
Benton coming back from the dead to get his share of the loot,all of it, from an armored car robbery that he was set up for and framed by his double-crossing partners mob lawyer Paul Lowe, Ross Elliott, and small-time hoods Squeamy Ellis, Marvin Ellis, and Joe Marcelli, Ken Terrell.
A pretty hilarious piece of trash in which Lon Chaney plays an executed murderer called "Butcher" Benton who goes on the rampage after being revived from the dead by a scientist trying to cure cancer.
Otherwise, this one is criminal.** Indestructible Man (1956) Jack Pollexfen ~ Lon Chaney Jr., Max Showalter, Marian Carr.
INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN stars Lon Chaney Jr. as Charles "The Butcher" Benton, who is sentenced to die in the gas chamber, after being double-crossed by his former partners in crime.
Horror legend Lon Chaney Jnr plays The Butcher, a criminal who gets executed but is unintentionally brought back to life Frankenstein style in an illicit experiment to cure cancer.
Very low budget B picture with Lon Chaney Jr. Filmed not so much like a horror film, but as a film noir with a twist.It's actually a decent story and is rather well played out, considering the budget.Chaney over acts and does some crazy mugging and sometimes the closeups don't match up.It's almost like an ED direction.Still, it's easy to forgive because you can get into the story.Here's the plot"Butcher" Benton goes to his death in the state prison, cursing the three men who double-crossed him following an armored-car hold-up; "Squeamy" Ellis, Joe Marcelli and Paul Lowe, his attorney and leader of the gang.
In this case it is Lon Chaney Jr. as armed robber Charles Benton, betrayed by two other bank robbers who turned state's evidence at the request of sleazy lawyer Paul Lowe, who wants a fall guy for the robbery and a chance at a smaller split for the 600K payroll heist for which he hired the three thieves in the first place.
Lon Chaney takes on the title role of a Los Angeles criminal named Butcher Benton, who is on death row and taking the rap from two of his traitorous cohorts who turned state's evidence against him at his trial.
Although Lon Chaney has a couple of fun lines early in the picture, once he comes back to life he plays it ominously mute, like an unstoppable electrified Frankenstein monster of brute power, with quivering maniacal eyes.
This one gets hold of the recently executed body of a vicious killer named Butcher Benton (Lon Chaney Jr) and brings him back from the dead.
Meanwhile a detective is closing in, helped by Benton's former girlfriend.Aside from some dull romantic interludes between the cop and the girlfriend, the film moves along at a decent pace, helped by some good location work around LA and an effective, even sympathetic, performance from Chaney.
If Benton had simply escaped from prison - without being resurrected, without being made indestructible - the core plot of a desperate man hunting down the rats who double-crossed him would still be there, and would locate the movie firmly in film noir country..
Fans of "Dragnet" will find this sci fi offering to be equally entertaining.Lon Chaney Jr. is perfectly cast as Charles 'Butcher' Benton, a man who is scheduled to die in the gas chamber, but who vows to kill his lawyer and his accomplices who turned State's evidence and get back the $600,000 he stole from an armored car robbery.
Tracking the reborn "Butcher", who now has immense strength and is impervious to most weapons, is dedicated detective Dick Chasen (Max Showalter)."Film noir crossed with 'Frankenstein'" is indeed a great way to describe this goofy but irresistible plot, which is supplemented by Showalters' frequent narration.
(She plays Eva Martin, a burlesque performer who had spent some time with our villain, and is soon romanced by our hero.) The solid supporting cast also includes Stuart Randall as the police captain, Robert Foulk as a bar owner, Roy Engel as a desk sergeant, Lyle Latell as a cop, Joe Flynn as Shaynes' assistant, and two other very sexy ladies, Peggy Maley and Reita Green.Entertaining to watch, especially for Lon Jr. fans and B movie fans in general.As has been pointed out, this is somewhat similar to an earlier Lon Jr. vehicle, "Man Made Monster".Seven out of 10..
Lon Chaney stars as Charles "Butcher" Benton who is a criminal who dies and a scientist conducts an experiment and he gets resurrected.
This is one of those unbelievable, low-budget horror films from the 1950s that's "so bad it's good." Lon Chaney, Jr., on the downslide of his career, plays Charles "Butcher" Benton with so much fierce conviction that he carries the rest of this poorly acted and directed programmer.
Scientific experiments accidentally revive an executed criminal (Lon Chaney Jr.) and make him impervious to harm, prompting him to seek revenge on his former partners.IMDb calls this a "horror" and "science fiction" film.
Despite the sappy acting of Max Showalter(Casey Adams),the story had a constant flow which kept you interested in the outcome of the Butcher's revenge on his crooked partners.Lon Chaney's performance makes you empathize with his predicament without the spoken word.
The poster looks as if Lon Chaney, Jr. is a man that can electrocute you with just his touch - and this film is not that way; the film's poster does NOT do this movie justice.I actually like this film.
You would have to watch the film to judge for yourself.If you like detective stories, film noir, crime stories, science fiction, horror and/or Lon Chaney, Jr. then you should like "Indestructible Man" - at least give the film a chance when you can get around to watching it.8/10.
It's low budget, but acting is pretty good, and the plot is also good and original.Charles "Butcher" Benton (Lon Chaney Jr.) is a convicted killer, and is executed, but a scientist brings him back to life using high voltage.
This to me is one of Lon Chaney's best movies.Good '50s classic with interesting and original plot..
Indestructible Man (1956) ** (out of 4) A scientist brings an executed killer (Lon Chaney, Jr.) back to life who eventually goes on a killing spree in this minor cult classic.
The movie goes something like this: Charles "Butcher" Benton (Lon Chaney Jr) is falsely convicted of a crime and executed.
Armored Car bank robber Butcher Benton (played by Lon Chaney Jr.), about to be set to the gas chamber, vows revenge on those who betrayed him including his attorney Paul Lowe and two other shady associates who turned state evidence against him.
And for a nine-year-old who worshiped at the shrines of Famous Monsters magazine and low-budget L.A. cop shows like "Dragnet" and "Code 3", this movie was damn near ultimate, especially when you got to stay up late to catch it on the Saturday night Creature Feature.Lon Chaney Jr. is clearly past his peak and he only has a few lines at the beginning, before the experiment that restores his life robs him of his vocal cords, but he manages to tap into the pain and rage that made his Lawrence Talbot so tragic a figure.
And then there were some great character turns - Inspector Henderson as a mad scientist assisted by Captain Binghamton (how my young mind reeled), Lassie sheriff Robert Foulk as the cynical, hardboiled bartender, Marian Carr as the good stripper and Peggy Maley as her greedy second, Ross Elliot as Benton's sleazy lawyer and Ken Terrell and Marvin Ellis as the accomplices (every 50's crime movie should have a guy named Squeamy in it), and the brief appearance of Eddie Marr as the huckstering Carney, who darn near made a career out of playing barkers in films like "The Hucksters" and "Roustabout" and TV shows like "Circus Boy" - all great stuff that just barely manages to make Adams and his wooden cop compadres bearable.So, I'm rating this a seven, even though I know that only those who were struck by this flick during their salad days are apt to agree with me.
The plot is a fun combination of the old time horror clichés from "The Walking Dead" and "The Man They Could Not Hang" era with the police procedure clichés and narration from cheap cop shows of the early television era, all filmed in a crude verite style still interesting for its glimpses of Los Angeles in the fifties.Stone killer Butcher Benton is set to die in the gas chamber.
And while the movie is only 70 minutes long, the stuff between the Lon Chaney scenes more often than not feels like padding.
Indestructible Man. A scientist, working on a cure for cancer, uses a machine which sends electric bolts into the confiscated corpse of executed armored car robber Butcher Benton (Lon Chaney, Jr).
While the movie didn't do a lot for me personally, Chaney's presence in the film supplied enough entertainment to watch it all the way through to the end..
After the criminal known as Charles "Butcher" Benton (Lon Chaney, Jr.) is put to death in the gas chamber, his body finds its way to the laboratory of a Professor Bradshaw.
This movie stars famous horror actor Lon Chaney Jr as the Indestructible Man who was well cast for the part considering he was still in decent shape.
Fortunately after he is executed a scientist obtains his corpse (somehow) and pumps him full of electricity and he comes back to life to wreak his avowed mission of death as the Indestructible Man. So he kills some people before being fried in a power plant after dodging the police and being shot a lot of times.
The Indestructible Man is played by Lon Chaney Jnr. who I would like to say gives an electric performance but no, he is rather flat, lumbering around and throwing his victims off high places.One of those places is the much filmed Bradbury Building in Los Angeles. |
tt0844708 | The Last House on the Left | The film begins in the middle of a forest at night. Police officers Morton (Michael Bowen) and Giles (Joshua Cox) are transporting a dangerous criminal, named John Krug (Garret Dillahunt), to prison. Krug requests for them to stop so that he can piss, but they refuse. The car stops at a railroad crossing while a train passes through. Suddenly, a truck crashes into the car. Two masked people get out of the truck and walk over to the car. These people turn out to be Krug's younger brother Francis (Aaron Paul) and Krug's girlfriend Sadie (Riki Lindhome). Giles, extremely bloodied, is still alive and so Sadie shoots him in the head. She then frees Krug and kisses him. Krug asks Francis about his son, and he says that he's okay. Morton is also still alive, though badly injured. Krug strangles him with his seatbelt and they all wonder what Morton's thinking about as he's dying. Francis steals the cash out of Morton's walet, though some blood drips on it. Krug gets Morton's picture of his two little daughters and says that Morton is thinking about what he'll never see again. Krug finishes Morton off.Elsewhere, 16-year-old Mari Collingwood (Sara Paxton) is swimming in a pool as her mother Emma (Monica Potter) watches. After Mari's swim, she asks her mother what her time was. Emma says that it doesn't matter, and says that they should start their vacation. Emma picks up her husband, Dr. John Collingwood (Tony Goldwyn), at a hospital after he's through with performing a surgery. The Collingwoods drive to the forest to spend their vacation at their summer house. Mari, driving, comes to a fork in the road that has a 'Road Ends In The Lake' sign. She turns left and remarks how ridiculous the sign is. The family arrives at the house and starts to unpack their belongings. Mari chooses to stay in the guest house, which is a little walk away from the house. It turns out that Mari had an older brother, named Ben, who died last year. Its clear that the parents have still not gotten over his death. Mari goes to the boathouse and goes for a quick swim in the lake. She then gets dressed and wears a necklace that Ben gave her. Emma's brother, who recently stayed in the house, has left Emma and John a bottle of wine as a token of appreciation. While John tries to fix the broken microwave, Mari asks her parents if she can borrow the car. She wants to go into the nearby town to visit her friend Paige. Emma thought that they could enjoy a nice family meal together, though John gives Mari the keys and a wad of cash to have fun in town. The only thing Emma asks is for Mari to call her when she gets to town. John and Emma plan on having a nice quiet romantic dinner together.Mari hangs out with Paige (Martha MacIsaac) as she works at the general store. As they catch up and talk about their plans to get high, a teenager named Justin (Spencer Treat Clark) grabs a bunch of junk food. He approaches the counter and asks for cigarettes. Paige wants to check his ID, and so Justin comes up with a compromise if she lets him buy the cigarettes, he'll give her primo weed that he has in his motel room. Paige winds up agreeing to the deal. Justin gets nervous when he sees that some of the cash has blood on it, but he finds clean bills to pay with. Mari drives them all to the motel. Justin and Paige get out of the car, telling Mari that they'll be back in a couple of minutes. While waiting in the car, Mari sees that her cell phone has no signal. She's startled by a maid, who asks her if she dropped her room key. Tired of waiting, Mari enters the room to find that Justin and Paige are smoking a joint. She's a little miffed that they didn't get her, but she sits down and smokes with them. Emma calls Mari, worried that she didnt call when she got to town. Mari reassures her that everythings fine. As the call starts to break up, Emma warns Mari that a storm is coming. Mari says that shell spend the night at Paiges house and hangs up.While getting high, Paige dances on the bed. Mari asks Justin about his family. He says that they have to keep on moving due to his father and uncle. He says that his mother is dead. Mari tells him that her brother is dead. Wanting badly to change the subject to something more upbeat, Paige says that Justin could be cute if he didn't have a Unabomber look. She has Justin wear his uncles shirt while she and Mari give him a make-over.Suddenly, Krug, Francis, and Sadie show up at the motel. Sadie immediately takes off her shirt and walks around topless, looking for a bra and clean shirt to put on. Francis sees that Justin is wearing his shirt, but has him keep it on. Seeing the two teen girls, Krug gets upset with Justin, telling him that he was not supposed to bring anyone to the motel room. Justin tells Krug that he didn't know that they would be back so soon, and says that he thought he could get rid of the weed. Krug wants Justin to stop thinking about his own needs and punches him in the stomach. He tosses a newspaper at Justin, showing him that his escape is all over the news. In the paper are pictures of Krug and Sadie, from a camera inside the cop car. Krug looks at the girls and wonders what to do with them. Mari and Paige promise not to say anything. Francis grabs Paige from behind and pulls out his knife. Mari gives Sadie the keys to her car, hoping that they won't hurt them. Krug apologizes, but he just can't risk having them leave. Paige breaks free from Francis and goes into the bathroom. She tries to use her phone, but it doesn't have a signal. She goes to the window, where she spots a police car in the parking lot. She tries to get their attention, but they don't see her. Francis breaks through the door and throws Paige down from the window, smashing her head against the sink in the process. He then breaks her phone, along with Maris. Krug forces Justin to look at Mari, telling him that hes responsible for their predicament.The gang and girls drive off in Mari's car. Francis holds onto Paige, Sadie holds onto Mari, and Krug drives with Justin in the front seat. They pass another police car on the road and the girls try to get their attention, but they are both held down. They wind up in the forest and approach the fork in the road. Krug has Francis look at the map to find where the main highway is. Mari tells them that it's on the left, and so Krug turns left. Krug and Sadie compliment Mari on being nice and civil. Mari sees that the car's cigarette lighter is directly in front of her. She pushes the lighter in with her foot while acting calm. She sees that they've passed the road where her house is. When the lighter is ready, she grabs it and burns Sadie's forehead leaving a small burn mark. Paige fights Francis while Krug tries to get everyone to calm down. Mari opens the door and tries to jump out, but Sadie holds her down. Krug winds up losing control of the car, causing them to crash into a couple of trees. Paige, wounded, gets out of the car and tries to free Mari, but Krug knocks her to the ground. Francis finds that his nose broke during the crash. He lets out his anger on the girls, kicking them around. Sadie, pissed that she's going to be scarred for life, beats up Mari. Mari tries to get Justin to help, but he just watches helplessly, too afraid to to anything. Paige and Mari try to escape again by running into the forest. Krug catches Mari before she can get far. He orders Sadie and Francis to get Paige back.Paige runs through the forest and manages to hide from them. She eventually comes across a construction site and screams for help. They can't hear her due to loud machines at work. She tries to get closer, but is tackled by Sadie. Paige kicks Sadie off her and tries to run again, but is clothes-lined by Francis. He pulls out his gun and is ready to kill her right there, but Sadie says that Krug wanted them to bring her back alive. Sadie rips off Paige's shirt and uses it to tie her hands. They make their way back to Krug, Justin, and Mari. Krug says that its time for Justin to become a man, and asks him which girl he wants. Justin refuses, and so Krug grabs hold of him and forces him to grope Mari. Paige calls Krug pathetic, which surprises him. He walks over to Paige, lifts her up, and stabs her in the stomach with a knife. Francis grabs her from behind and stabs her in the back. Krug then stabs Paige again in the stomach. He lets Mari hold Paige, who struggles to breathe. Krug wants Mari to lie to Paige, telling her that everything's going to be all right. Mari refuses. Krug throws Mari down on the ground. Sadie rips off Mari shorts and helps hold her down. Krug then pulls down Mari's panties and rapes her. Mari screams in pain and sees that Paige is dead. She begs for Justin to help her, but he continues to do nothing. During the rape, Krug rips off Mari necklace and throws it towards Justin (who puts it in his pocket). After Krug finishes, Mari puts her panties back on, degraded. Even the others, for a moment, look a little remorseful about what they've done.Krug tells Justin that he really missed out on Mari, who says that she has to swim. Mari, having picked up a rock, hits Krug in the head and runs away. Krug tries to shoot her, but misses. Mari gets to the lake and swims away. Krug tries to shoot her, but keeps on missing. Eventually Krug manages to shoot Mari in the back, causing her to stop in the lake and she sinks betheath the water. The storm arrives, and so the gang leaves. Krug has to basically force Justin to walk with them.While walking through the woods, the four of them wind up on the road leading to the Collingwoods. Emma and John have just finished dinner when they hear banging at the front door. They open to find Krug, Justin, Francis, and Sadie drenched in the rain. Claiming to be a family whose car has broken down, Krug asks the Collingswoods for them. They welcome them inside and John snaps Francis nose back in shape. Emma makes coffee for everyone and hot chocolate for Justin. Krug says that despite their car difficulties, they're lucky to have stumbled upon their house. Krug asks if they can give them a lift to town, but the Collingwoods say that their daughter has the car. Krug asks to use their phone to call a tow truck or taxi, but John doubts that anyone is going to come for them during the storm. While John stitches up Francis nose, the storm causes the power to go out. John goes outside to start the back-up generator for the house, leaving Emma alone with the guests. She asks them what they're doing out there, since she's never seen them before. Francis is ready to use his knife to kill her, but Krug says that their father used to bring them to the lake to fish. He was hoping to spend some quality time with his son Justin (who remains mostly quiet). Francis puts his knife away, and John gets the generator working.John goes back inside and finishes stitching Francis' nose, during which Francis becomes attracted to Emma. They all go into the living room, where John gets them warm by the fireplace. Justin asks to use the bathroom. Emma tells him where it is, and he goes into the kitchen to put his cup away. He's shocked to see a picture of Mari on the refrigerator. Emma walks in and says that Mari is their daughter. Justin collapses on the floor. He says that he's sick and rushes off to the bathroom. He locks the door and pulls out Mari's necklace. Krug knocks on the door, saying that Emma is worried about him. He tells Justin to get his act together and appear normal in front of the Collingwoods. During this time, we see Mari (badly wounded) making her way to the boathouse and then crawling out of the lake.John offers his guests to stay there for the night, telling them that they can stay in the guesthouse out back. Justin goes back to the kitchen and places Mari's necklace around his cup. Krug tells him to hurry up, since Emma is going to show them the guesthouse. Since there's no electricity in the guesthouse, Emma lights up a bunch of candles. She says that if they need anything, they can just come over to the main house. Krug thanks her for her hospitality. Emma goes back to the house and doesn't see Mari crawling nearby.Back inside the main house, Emma says that there's something weird about their guests, but John doesn't think much of it. They hear loud banging outside on the porch. John and Emma go outside to find that the noise is from a rocking chair. They are then shocked to find Mari there.John sees that shes been shot, and so he carries her into the living room. He heats up a knife in the fireplace and cauterizes the wound to stop the bleeding. He tells Emma to get alcohol and towels from the kitchen. While in the kitchen, Emma finds Mari's necklace wrapped around Justins cup. She realizes who her guests are. Mari is struggling to breathe, and so John turns her on the side and cuts her back. He then places a tube in the cut to help her breathe. John sees blood in her inner thigh and realizes that shes been raped. Emma tells John that their guests did this to their daughter. She saw Mari wearing the necklace before she left, and she knows Justin left it around his cup. John grows furious, and Emma asks him what theyre going to do. The nearest house is miles away, they don't have a car, and the gang is still there. John tells her that they need to be prepared to do anything. Since Mari needs a hospital, they plan on using their boat to travel there.Meanwhile, in the guesthouse, Sadie takes a shower and Krug gets ready for bed. He sees Justin sleeping on the couch in the other room. It turns out Justin is pretending to be asleep, and he starts to eye Krug's pistol. Sadie comes to bed topless and she falls asleep with Krug. With Francis asleep in a chair nearby, Justin sneaks into the bedroom and steals Krug's gun.John goes to the boathouse and gets the boat ready, but finds that the keys are missing. While looking around, he starts to eye some tools nearby. He grabs a hammer to use as a weapon to kill the guests. Emma eyes some knives in the kitchen, and then Francis suddenly shows up. He says that the lightning outside woke him up, and he was wondering if he could have something to drink. To keep him from seeing Mari's picture on the refrigerator, Emma flirts with him and says that John is passed-out upstairs. She offers some wine to Francis, and tells him to wait in the living room while she gets glasses. Francis walks into the other room and sees Mari curled up in front of the fireplace. He recognizes her and is about to panic when Emma smashes a wine bottle over his head. Enraged, he charges at her, but Emma stabs him in the chest with a butcher knife. Francis beats her up a bit and goes over to the window in the dinning room to try to warn the others in the guesthouse (but they can't hear due to the storm). John shows up and beats Francis with the hammer. He also re-breaks Francis nose. While fighting, they wind up back in the kitchen. Emma and John hold Francis head down in the sink, drowning him. While thrashing around, Francis' hand winds up in the garbage disposal. John turns it on, slicing up Francis' hand. As Francis screams in pain and tries to break free, John stabs him in the head with the hammerclaw, killing him.John and Emma sneak into the guesthouse, armed with the butcher knife and a fire poker to kill the others. They approach the bedroom and see Krug and Sadie in bed, but then see Justin sitting nearby. Justin aims the pistol at them, but then offers it to John. As quietly as he can, John slowly walks across the bedroom and is handed the pistol. When he cocks it, Sadie wakes up. John shoots at her gazing her neck, but also waking up Krug. Sadie jumps on John and fights with him for the gun as Krug throws the bed at Emma. John throws Sadie in the bathroom and then tries to shoot Krug, but he jumps out of the window and makes his way towards the house. Sadie grabs a pole from the shower and uses it to beat John up, knocking the gun out of his hands. Justin tries to help John, but is knocked out by Sadie. Emma grabs the pistol and shoots Sadie through her left eye, killing her.Krug gets to the house, somewhat confused as to why the Collingwoods are attacking them. He then looks in the living room and finds blood on the table. He walks into the kitchen and finds Francis' body. Krug gets really angry and storms off. It turns out that the Collingwoods put Mari in the boat before they went to the guesthouse. Emma stays with her while John goes to the house with the fire poker to kill Krug. John finds that his wallet has been placed on the table in front of the fireplace. Krug has seen his family photo, and knows that Mari is their daughter.Upstairs, Krug taunts John to come up and get him. Krug rolls an object on the floor and keeps moving around to throw John off. He looks outside and realizes that they're going to use the boat to escape. He opens a window and makes a loud noise, causing John to rush upstairs. Thinking Krug has escaped through the window, he tries to yell out to Emma. It turns out Krug was hiding in the room. He ambushes John, and they beat the crap out of each other. Krug kicks John through the railing on the stairs, causing him to fall to the ground floor. Krug then stands over the wounded John and asks him if he wants to know how tight his daughter was. John says that he wants to hear him beg for his life and breaks a table over Krug. After more fighting, Krug chokes John with the fire poker until he passes out. John falls to the floor and Krug prepares to stab him when he hears a gun cocked behind him. Krug turns around to find Justin aiming the gun at him. Krug can't believe it, telling him he picked a hell of a time to man up. Krug says that he's not angry, and asks for the gun. Justin pulls the trigger, but the gun is out of bullets. Enraged, Krug stabs Justin in the stomach with the fire poker. Emma comes back with a fire extinguisher and hits Krug with it. She sprays him with the hose and John beats him with the fire poker. Emma then knocks Krug out by bashing his head with the fire extinguisher. The storm clears up outside. John, Emma, Mari, and Justin all get in the boat and drive down the lake.Some time later, Krug wakes up alone to find John standing over him. Krug says that he can't move. John says that he didn't have any rope or tape to hold him, and so he made cuts all over his body to paralyze him from the neck down. Krug, helpless, asks him what he's doing. John puts Krug's head in the broken microwave and turns it on. The film ends with Krug's head exploding in the microwave. | suspenseful, cruelty, murder, violence, horror, revenge, entertaining, sadist | train | imdb | As a fan of the original 1972 version, I wasn't expecting a lot, but at the same time, with Wes being brought in as a producer, I felt it had to live up to some expectations.What I got was a fun yet torturous movie that had the audience with it the whole time.
These films require a director who has talent with timing, with creating atmosphere, with building suspense, and most of the time, especially recently (sure, there have always been awful horror films, but there was a time when studios financed some respectable films at least), the directors who take on such projects seem either incapable or uninterested in doing all they can to make the film work."The Last House on the Left" is a 're-imagining' of Wes Craven's accidental classic from 1972.
That film displays Craven's potential, but while certain sequences are compelling it is cheap, clumsy, has a bizarrely chirpy bluegrass score, some awful acting (and some good acting), and the movie's biggest flaw: a Benny Hill-like slapstick subplot.
The film, like the original, avoids the pornographic nature of many rape-revenge thrillers, such as "I Spit on Your Grave" or for a more recent example the 'unofficial' remake of "The Last House on the Left" from 2005: "Chaos", which was so gleefully vicious it became sickening, not effectively disturbing.Michael Phillips said it best: "The way director Iliadis shapes the key misery-inducing sequence, there's no hype or slickness or attempt to make the rape palatable or visually "dynamic." For that you have to go see Watchmen." The performances help.
Garret Dillahunt is great as Krug and the rest of the cast good too, especially Monica Potter as Emma, the raped Mary's mother.I won't spoil the changes to the story for you but it does a lot to separate itself from the original.
Most horror fans feel the same way I do (yet we still watch these things!) so needless to say I went into this movie expecting to be disappointed.
The major story line change in this one has been discussed in previous reviews and revolves around main character Mari (I won't reveal any major changes for the benefit of those who haven't seen it yet) and yes I was EXTREMELY disappointed with these changes but as I said I went into the film expecting to be let down so this helped to soften the blow.
Nowadays there really is no way to re-create the grainy, almost documentary like filming style of the original which is one of the main elements that added to the general feel of the film, but these filmmakers did an exceptional job of making the viewer curl in disgust at the actions of the villains and cheer and applaud the violence that befalls them.
It is also a remake of the 1972 film by Wes Craven, which in turn is a remake of the art film, Virgin Spring (1960) by Ingmar Bergman.Two cute girls, teenagers are hanging out, find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time when they go to the apartment of a boy named Justin (Spencer Treat Clark) to smoke some pot and chill out, when his family comes back who are wanted in the connection with some local murders.
From there things get steadily worse until the girls are left brutalized.The convicts having driven out to the middle of nowhere find their way to a small cabin to recuperate, until the happy couple waiting for their daughter to bring the car home realize these are the men who hurt their daughter, and they aren't going to take it lying down.In the feel of Hostel, extreme violence in retribution ensues, and that's pretty much the entire flick.
You might recognize Garret Dillahunt who plays the lead baddie, Krug from the prime time series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Michael Bowen ("Lost", Magnolia, Jackie Brown), Joshua Cox ("Strong Medicine"), Sara Paxton as the daughter (Summerland), and Riki Lindhome as the friend (My Best Friend's Girl).The pacing is strong, and somehow the film works a lot better than say a movie like Hostel for reason of solid directing, acting, and simple but effective script..
What I took into Last House 09 was what I knew about the original (by the way i have the original movie on DVD and it has been sitting there unwatched for a few years), and I must admit it's definitely a quality movie, great acting, wrought tension and great scares, i must say there were times I was hiding behind my hands because it was so suspenseful.It is also beautifully shot and looks amazing, Dennis Iliadis direction is superb and he gets every bit of energy and emotion from all of his cast.
The actors are also really well cast, Garett Dillahunt is truly frightening as the movie's main bad guy, Riki Lindholme portrays Sadie with true evil and is very very creepy, Monica Potter and Tony Goldwyn both pull off the typical family putting on a brave face (considering the back story which i'll not spoil for anyone who hasn't seen the movie yet), that are put in a position where they have to do what they can to protect their daughter's life and their own.
Sara Paxton and Martha MacIsaac also show that they are capable of a more dramatic element than just a comedy and teen movie fare, that we are used to seeing them in.The only thing I hated about the movie was the rape scene, the build up was just so intense that I found myself covering my ears so I couldn't hear what was going on, but apart from that go see this movie if you want to see how a remake should be done.A thought provoking, pulse racing thriller, that will have you on the edge of your seat until the credits roll..
I am a 39 year old man,(36 at the time this movie came out)and i was disgusted by that scene.I was so angry at the director for putting so much,emphasis on having me,watch and listen to a young woman's pain,agony and terror for that long.I will never go see a wes craven movie again, since that movie.I will not support a director, that would put such trash, in a movie.I would think,that we could get a sense of a rape scene,without it lasting forever.It was just too authentic for me to bear,i guess I'm just too sensitive or i just have a soul?.
I watched the original as a child and found it pretty disturbing but a very well executed horror, I recently watched it again in anticipation of the 2009 release and wasn't as impressed, I know that the grainy dated footage added something to the film, somehow documentary style and with the budget they had Wes Craven done a very good job, however I think it was let down a bit by the music which was very inappropriate and sounded like it could have been in a comedy this and the fact my girlfriend was giggling at some of the movie didn't help, particularly the two policemen and their antics, they seemed like a comedy duo which detracted from the dark story, maybe this was deliberate and was intended to give us a break from the harsh storyline?
I think this is the best remake I have seen in many years and give it 10 stars, very good acting, excellent directing and a great cast, it had a lot to live up to and it succeeded when so many other films have failed.
The Wes Craven film remains chilling to this day for its low budget, grainy look and feel which gives it a fuzzy, could-almost-be-a-snuff-movie type vibe.
It may not be as downright disturbing as Craven's movie but as remakes go it's one of the better ones out there.The imposing Garret Dillahunt stars as Krug, the leader of a criminal family, for whom kidnapping, rape, extortion and murder are the order of the day.
The scene then shifts to the titular location, which for me is where the film really gets going: it's all about the suspense inherent in waiting for the parents to find out what happened and then watching what they do about it, the classic home invasion premise.What ensues both delights and disappoints.
There's a violent and lengthy scene in which a character is attacked which really pays off, but aside from that what follows is a little disappointing – not least the tacked-on ending involving a microwave, which takes the mildly realistic events of the previous movie and trashes them with a frankly outrageous and unbelievable gore scene.The cast is pretty good, which seems to be the norm for these modern-day remakes (aside from the teen slashers, in which the cast remain drivelling).
Either way a truly great piece of horror beyond what any of us had seen at the time.When i heard about This Re-make i was not so much excited but anxious to see how they would handle the story and the scenes that would be necessary to tell it to the best of it's ability.I was impressed.I knew straight away it would be reasonably mild compared to the first one it had to be , to be watchable in cinemas in order to make money.
A quartet of criminals -a distorted version of the nuclear family , a sadistic Manson type group- kidnaps a pair of teenage girls (Sara Paxton, Marta MacIsaac) and proceeds to ravage, rape, and finally brutally torture them in the forest , unwittingly within walking distance of their rural house .
Again, this film is not bad and like oh so many remakes of the 70's horror genre - these will become the originals in modern cultural discussion with a less well-informed public.
A remake of Craven's 1972 film of the same name (itself influenced by Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring), it stars Tony Goldwyn, Monica Potter, Garret Dillahunt, Sara Paxton, Spencer Treat Clark and Martha MacIsaac.
When the parents realise what their new lodgers have done, they begin to enact bloody retribution.It's pointless going on about remakes of old horror films, they are here to stay and we continue to watch them in the hope that they will strike a chord with us.
While there have been some terrible abominations to their originals, the 2009 version of Wes Craven's "The Last House On the Left" is not even close to those, surpassing the others to become the best horror remake to date.
While some may say, "that's like being the best video game movie!", I assure you, this is a thriller that thrills, scares, and knows how to get the audience involved with the film.As is a movie that isn't all that deep itself, and has a basic premise with no major plot twist, I'll keep this review short.
The 1972 movie by Wes Craven is a far superior film.Thirty-seven years later, this "update" offers little more than a richer sound mix, lots of gliding camera work, and trendy HG-TV styled sets.
(the following may contain spoilers)putrid.vile.horrid.these are just some of the words to describe what i witnessed while watching this thing.it's remake of the 1972 movie.i don't consider myself a prude,but showing a girl being brutalized is not my idea of a good time,especially if the scene goes on for what seems an eternity and the camera lingers on the spot.plus,the film makers seem to revel in that act of depravity,and that is truly disgusting and offensive.the family that seeks revenge on those that victimized their child end up becoming as sick and depraved as those they are exacting their revenge on.the original film may had some merit to it,but this remake does not,in my opinion.true,it is just one person's opinion.
I walked in to the remake of "Last House on the Left" not expecting much: Not only had I seen the original, which-sorry Wes-was a very flawed film, I have so little expectation for horror remakes to be anything but over-budgeted crap.
The remake improved upon its source material in so many ways: the better parts of the original were kept, while some of the stupider unnecessary exploitation was cut, making the level of violence in the film brutally realistic rather than intentionally offensive.
The rape scene in this one would be something you would show your kid when explaining the birds and bees.I will never watch this horrendous piece of s**t again.Once again they have screwed up a movie with a remake.I wish I could have my time back.
I was not aware that "The Last House on the Left" was a remake, and yes I do like my sheltered movie existence where I don't watch horror movies.
Just as this movie is not a film, just a channel for gruesome violence.If you don't watch horror movies, don't start with "The Last House on the Left"..
The recent remakes of 70's horror movies try to use excessive cruelty and seriousness in order to hide their lack of enthusiasm and spontaneity.The problem with those new versions is that, on their failed attempt for surpassing the original movies, they loose what made them to be memorable...that raw but energetic vision which made them so valuable to many people not only because of their intrinsic quality, but also for capturing a particular moment on popular culture.However, The Last House on the Left ended up being a very competent remake of the controversial film of the same title, directed by Wes Craven in 1972 (and considered by some people as an unofficial remake of the Swedish film The Virgin Spring).I honestly did not like the original film very much, and maybe because of that I appreciated the changes made on this new version, which alters the dynamic of some characters and extirpates the inappropriate black humor used by Craven.Because of that, I think The Last House on the Left (2009) deserves to be valued on its own merits, and not on its fidelity to a mediocre film.Although the criminals from this film kinda belong to the generic mold of villains motivated by their own evilness, we find some humanity on the parents who look for revenge, whose moral disjunctive is easily solved when it becomes on a fight for survival.At the difference of other modern horror films (like for example, The Strangers or the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), the story of The Last House on the Left shows a logical narrative structure of causes and consequences, which is much more interesting than the hollow and repetitive circle of "torture, torture and more torture" those films understand as "horror".
Besides, the solid narrative from The Last House on the Left makes the violent scenes to have a bigger impact.It may not be a great film, and it has fails, but I liked this remake pretty much, and I took a nice surprise with it.Unless you are sensitive, I recommend it with enthusiasm, and I hope that more filmmakers from the horror genre take the example from this movie: it is not enough with showing a lot of violence, because it is also necessary the creation of a good story and interesting characters..
Wes Craven's original 1972 film "Last House on the Left" is such a movie, even though – theoretically speaking – that milestone itself was already a remake of Bergman's "The Virgin Spring".
Basically the original is like watching a very dated 70's drive in exploitation movie that was probably more shocking at it's time of release than when I first saw it.
And this 2009 version makes you want to throw in your lot with a doomsday cult.In Last House '2.0', Mari Collingwood (Sara Paxton) and her girlfriend Paige (Martha MacIsaac) are looking, in time-honoured fashion, to score some reefer when they stumble on a delightful bunch of escaped sex killers led by Krug (Garret Dillahunt), who tortures and murders Paige, and rapes and leaves Mari for dead in the woods.
Phil's Quick Capsule Review: Last House On The Left, much like Wes Craven's original, is a dirty, nasty, uncomfortable film to watch with one of the most brutal rapes (mostly implied) I have ever seen on screen.
The remake of the movie is awesome, this is one of the best horror film I have watch.
"The Last House on the Left" a remake of the shocking and chilling 1972 film done by Wes Craven, again showed just how brutal and sick that some people can be.
Overall a good remake even though the rape scene is tough and disturbing "The Last House on the Left" is well paced and it showcases the sadistic side of human life so well yet it rewards the viewer and society by showing that revenge is due and it's rightfully served out..
I thought that The Last House On The Left was one of the best horror movies that i have seen in the last few years Emma (Monica Potter), John (Tony Goldwyn), and Mari Collingwood (Sara Paxton) head out on holiday to their lake house.
I like the remake of Wes Craven's The House on the Left (1972) more than the original.
There are a few unsettling scenes like for instance the rape in this movie is very realistic and disgusting but was done much better in the original where it lasted forever in that, in this it's still shocking but nothing that hasn't been done before.
To be quiet honest this remake of The Last House on the Left is the greatest horror movie of ALL time!
The remake of The Last House on the Left is more graphic in violence and you just have to gasp at it at times this movie uses new ways of killing people such as, a garbage disposal & a microwave!
After I first saw the 1972 version I thought that it was the greatest horror movie of all time, I take that back after seeing this remake. |
tt0090728 | Big Trouble in Little China | Visalia, California Truck driver Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) wins a bet with his restaurant owner friend Wang Chi (Dennis Dun), and accompanies him to the airport to pick up Wang's Chinese fiancée Miao Yin (Suzee Pai) to make sure he honours the payment. A Chinese street gang, the Lords of Death, tries to kidnap another Chinese girl at the airport who is being met by her friend Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall), intending to sell her as a sex slave. After Jack intervenes, they take Miao Yin instead. In Jack's big-rig truck, he and Wang track the Lords of Death to the back alleys of Chinatown, where they find a funeral procession that quickly erupts into a tong war between the Chang Sing and Wing Kong, two ancient Chinese societies. When "The Three Storms" - Thunder, Rain, and Lightning, mighty warriors with weather-themed powers - appear, slaughtering the Chang Sing, Jack tries to escape but runs over Lo Pan (James Hong), a powerful and legendary sorcerer and the leader of the Wing Kong. Horrified, Jack exits his truck, but finds Lo Pan entirely unfazed and glowing with malicious power. Wang hurriedly guides Jack through the alleys; the two escape the carnage and mayhem, but Jack's truck is stolen.
Wang takes Jack to his restaurant, where they meet up with Gracie, Wang's friend Eddie Lee (Donald Li), and magician Egg Shen (Victor Wong), a local authority on Lo Pan. They try to explain to an incredulous Jack some of the ancient knowledge and sorcery the Chinese brought with them to America, eventually devising a plan to infiltrate a brothel, where they think Miao Yin is being held. The infiltration effort is moderately successful, but the Storms interrupt the operation and make off with Miao Yin, taking her to their master Lo Pan. Jack and Wang track down the front business used by Lo Pan and impersonate electricians to gain access, but are quickly subdued by Rain. After being tied up and beaten by Thunder, the two meet Lo Pan - however, he now appears as a crippled old man. Wang tells Jack that Lo Pan needs a special green-eyed girl to break an ancient curse, and he intends to sacrifice Miao Yin. Centuries ago, Lo Pan, a great warrior and even greater wizard, was defeated in battle by the first sovereign emperor Qin Shi Huang. The Emperor placed upon Lo Pan the curse of No Flesh. Although Lo Pan can be temporarily granted a decrepit body by supplication to the gods, in order for him to permanently break the curse and regain his human form, he must marry a woman with green eyes. This simple act will appease Ching Dai, the God of the East. But to satisfy the Emperor, he must sacrifice her. When Jack and Wang's friends attempt to save them, they are also captured, and Lo Pan notes that Gracie has green eyes, too. Lo Pan decides to sacrifice Gracie, while making Miao Yin his unwilling wife. After getting the drop on Thunder, Jack and Wang escape, and free many women kept in holding cells in the process; a horrible orangutan-like monster recaptures Gracie before she leaves.
Wang and Jack regroup with the Chang Sing and Egg Shen, and as a group they enter an underground cavern to return to Lo Pan's headquarters. Egg pours each of the group a potent potion that Jack says makes him feel "kind of invincible." During the wedding ceremony, a huge fight ensues. Jack is largely incapacitated during the battle, first knocking himself out and then getting trapped under an automaton suit of armour. Wang kills Rain in a sword duel, while Jack and Gracie pair up and chase the newly-alive Lo Pan. Wang joins them, and just when all seems lost, Jack kills Lo Pan with a skillful knife throw. Thunder, too distracted by Wang to prevent his master's death, inflates to an enormous size from dishonoured fury, finally exploding and killing himself. Jack, Wang, Gracie, and Miao Yin are cornered by Lightning in a corridor, who triggers a collapse with his powers. Egg rescues them with a rope and kills Lightning by dropping a stone Buddha statue on him when he tries to follow. After finding Jack's truck, the group busts out and escapes back to Wang's restaurant.
The group celebrates their victory in the restaurant with the rescued women; Wang and Miao prepare to marry, while Eddie is pairing up with Gracie's journalist friend Margo. Egg sets off on a long-due vacation - Jack suggests his homeland, but Egg says that China is in the heart. Jack, presented with a new life with Gracie, instead bids farewell to the group and hits the open road, not wanting to be tied down. Unbeknownst to him, the orangutan-like monster survived the battle in the labyrinth and has stowed away on his truck. | paranormal, cult, psychedelic, humor, romantic, suspenseful | train | wikipedia | Loud mouthed truck driver Jack Burton (played by Carpenter's long time collaborator Kurt Russell) arrives in San Francisco's Chinatown where he agrees to help out old friend Wang (played by Denis Dun) by driving him to the airport to pick up his green eyed fiancé.
Is actually my fourth best John Carpenter/Kurt Russell film and I just love those four movies so much!
"Gosh" Big Trouble in Little China is a 1986 American action comedy film directed by John Carpenter.
It stars Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun and James Hong.The basic plot about this film is about Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) a simple man who doesn't believe in ghosts or magic until he's swept into a mind-boggling adventure deep within Chinatown's mysterious underworld.
From the nonsense mystical Chinese sorcery that is taken so reverently, to the American hero "Jack Burton" (Kurt Russell) who displays the fearless macho man, to combatants flying through the air (this was 15 years before Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was filmed), to one exotic character and situation after another - it's all absurd fun.Russell plays his role to the hilt, playing his favorite kind of role when he was younger: brash, bold and an ignoramus who fears absolutely nothing.
Out of 20th Century Fox, Big Trouble in Little China is directed by John Carpenter and stars Kurt Russell, Kim Catrall, Dennis Dun, James Hong & Victor Wong.
Little does he know that he is about to get involved in a supernatural battle between good and evil beneath San Francisco's Chinatown district.A box office failure upon its release, and known to be the moment when John Carpenter gave up on Hollywood, Big Trouble in Little China has gathered "cult" momentum over the years and shows up rather well these days.
Carpenter had always wanted to tackle a martial arts movie, and here he gets to do it whilst laying on the comedy and playing with effects work as his movie mostly comes alive in a magical underworld of monsters, magicians and sexy green eyed women.It's evident now that the film was ahead of its time, not from a technical viewpoint, but from the point it tried to Americanise chopsocky.
If you`ve ever heard of the director John Carpenter, you`ll be familiar with his works (of art), like Hallowe`en, Escape From New York, Assault On Precient 13, The Thing, They Live, and this movie, a mid 80`s classic starring none other than Carpenter`s favourite front man, Kurt Russell.
Sandwiched in-between these movie greats is the 1986 production of `Big Trouble on Little China', where eastern martial arts mysticism meets John Wayne bravado with zany and often absurdly hilarious results.
Its blend of Chinese black magic with American style and humour that only Kurt Russel and Dennis Dun could pull off makes it an unforgettable adventure comedy.The big problem with Big Trouble in Little China is that no one went to see it in theaters.
Big Trouble in Little China is one of the few films that generally impressed me and didn't give off a "fake" feeling like a lot of movies that are coming out today.
If you are a fan of John Carpenter, Kurt Russell, action movies, the 80's, or a fan of great films, definitely check this one out.
Even if youve never heard of Carpenter - if you like high flying (pre matrix CGI) kicking and karate chops, you HAVE to see this one just for the fight scenes, again wonderful.The cast is amazing, each character played way over the top, leaving stereotypes spinning in the dust.Costumes and sets are great and the storyline, though done a million times has a fresh take here because of Carpenters twisted sense of humor and excellent direction taking the film trhough genre mixes so often youre not sure if youre watching a scifi, fantasy, kung fu, comedy or action thriller...the truth is, youre watching all of the above done so campy-ily well that youre not sure what hit you.
From beginning to end, Big Trouble is filled with non-stop quotable lines, great effects, beautiful martial arts, fine acting, gorgeous sets and costumes, it really lacks for nothing you could want in a Hong Kong style movie...
Plot Summary: Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) has to tag along as his friend Wang (Dennis Dun) tries to rescue his fiancée (Suzee Pai) from 2000 year old sorcerer Lo Pan. But Jack just wants his truck back.A box office disaster, 'Big Trouble in Little China' has rightfully gained a cult following as Eastern cinema grew more popular in the West during the nineties.
Big Trouble could easily have been the standard of subsequent trashy US martial arts films, but it is turned into an all out comedy with the roles of hero and sidekick (Wang and Burton) reversed so Burton is the lead, and therefore you see the entire film through his eyes, hence you don't know what is going on during a lot of the early scenes.It looks and feels like a lot went into the production design and style of the film.
Dennis Dun, in what is really the hero role, says his fortune cookie wisdom with his tongue firmly in cheek and delivers his lines with as much enthusiasm as Russell; Victor Wong and James Hong are both suitably OTT playing the wise old magician and evil villain respectively, and both look like they are enjoying themselves.
The truck driver Jack Burton (Kurt Russel) arrives in Chinatown, San Francisco, and goes to the airport with his Chinese friend Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) to welcome his green-eyed fiancée Miao Yin (Suzee Pai) that is arriving from China.
Jack and Wang team-up with the lawyer Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall), the bus driver and sorcerer apprentice Egg Shen (Victor Wong) and their friends and embark in a great adventure in the underground of Chinatown, where they face a world of magicians and magic, monsters and martial arts fighters."Big Trouble in Little China" is one of the best action movies of the 80's.
My Take: A fun and funny mess of wildly, outlandish proportions.What do you get when you put sorcery, martial arts, evil wizards, old Chinese folk legends, butt-ugly monsters, over-the-top martial artists with really big hats, a stolen 18-wheeler truck and a wisecracking anti-hero named Jack Burton in a blender, with John Carpenter as your chef?
Big Trouble in Little China succeeds in doing two things: firstly, it was one of the very first films that attempted to highlight and address the existence of Chinese diaspora and the Chinese American community in Western society and secondly, John Carpenter manages to assemble and infuse elements of different types of movie genres all into one film: likewise there is horror, martial arts, comedy, action-adventure and romance.
Yet for an action-packed type of film, this one is actually a lot of fun to sit through.It does have a very B-movie feel to it,- given Carpenter's previous, yet timeless film efforts in 'The Thing', 'Escape From New York'- and the directorial style, look and feel of Big Trouble in Little China is one that conveys an almost authentic oriental and Far Eastern exoticism, which was rarely seen in most Western based, kung-fu (comedy) 80s flicks.
If anything and as I said earlier, it did introduce western audiences to a certain type of niche and camp brand of high-kicking martial arts action that wasn't present in the Hong Kong based kung fu flicks of Jackie Chan and Jet Li.Whilst Russell is on top form as Jack, Kim Catrell is virtually good as the damsel in distress, Gracie and Denis Dun is just as impressive as the all-fighting- yet light hearted, Wang.
Victor Wong, Kate Burton and Donald Li also fair well in their respective roles as Egg Shen, Margo and Eddie Lee. James Hong makes a good baddie as Lo-Pan. In spite of the fact that the film has aged 21 years- my God I cannot believe it has been that long (!),- Big Trouble in Little China still retains a certain panache, cult-ness and instinctiveness that not many so-called cult Hollywood movies intend to possess.
Overall, I would say the film is equal parts fantasy adventure, martial arts, action, and just a smidgen of romance, all held together by the comedy.Kurt Russel's character is ultimately cheesy, but in a beautifully entertaining way, so too is the main villain.
A similar movie would be "The Golden Child", though also a comedy-adventure-martial arts-fantasy film; "The Golden Child" takes itself far more seriously, only getting it's humor from Eddie Murphy's sarcasm.Big Trouble In Little China's greatest strength is in it's pure entertainment value.
It's got a loaded cast, great sci-fi action, martial art action, and just tons of excitement going on in the movie.Kurt Russell as Jack Burton is a one name you'll never forget, loves the long haul, and making the bets.
I think that no one film is better than big trouble in little china...As Carpenter says, this is his best movie, because I think that it contains action, martial arts, fantasy and really funny scenes, and in this film there is a great actor called Kurt Russell, that is Jack Burton, my favorite Hero!!I think that Carpenter, making this movie, has really created a genial masterpiece!!.
The commentary with kurt Russell and his longtime friend director John Carpenter was great Fun. John and kurt talk about the experience of making the film and the fun they had.Whenever john and kurt get together they have alot of laughs and they have quite a fond affection for this film.Jack Burton played wonderfully by kurt russell and is one of my fave actors playing a larger than life guy who sometimes sees himself as the hero but he's actually quite useless.Wang is truly the hero in the film he is absolutely amazing in the fighting sequences.Kurt and Dennis Dunn worked so well together and it was so hilarious whenever they got on each others nerves.Kurt Russell provides us with plenty of comic relief and classic one-liners and i still think it's the funniest lines I've heard in any movie I've ever seen before.When i see this film now i love watching it again and again.Big trouble in little china has lots of thrills a good cast who look like their having fun it's a very crazy film.seeing Kurt as Jack Burton is a blast he is the reason i love the film so much.This is Overall an enjoyable film.classic line from Jack Burton:"Ok you people!sit tight hold the fort and keep the home fires burning.And if we're not back by dawn...Call the president,".
Leaving his usual flair for horror behind him, he directed the family friendly sci-fi, Starman (1984) and followed its success with Big Trouble in Little China; definately a movie like no other...Kurt Russell plays the loud mouthed, hopelessly inept, reluctant 'hero', Jack Burton.
Before you can even say the title of this film, Wang's fioncee gets kidnapped, Jack's truck gets stolen and they're both up to their necks in mysticism, wizardry, monsters and Kung Fu experts.As has been the problem with previous Carpenter and Russell vehicles (The Thing & Escape from New York), Big Trouble in Little China was a film way ahead of its time.
In terms of pure entertainment, "Big Trouble in Little China" may be one of director John Carpenters' all-time best films.
Jack gets into the messiest of situations when he follows up a gambling debt and becomes embroiled in female trafficking, smuggling and dark Chinese magic.What starts as a "mere" Chinese gang war becomes something far bigger, including huge battles, explosions, shape changers, monsters, sorcerers and big hats galore.It turns out that a centuries old Chinese sorcerer named Lo Pan needs a woman with green eyes to ensure his continued immortality - so his gang steals one from the airport, lo and behold though when another falls into his clutches in the form of a young lawyer played by Kim Cattrall - who seeing this film was made in the early 80s must have been about 50 at the time.Jack wants Kim, his gambling buddy Wang wants his own green eyed missus back , Lo Pan wants one or both chicks (one for the ritual / one for the after-party!) and it seems every Asian-American bit part actor ever just wanted to get paid.The action runs non-stop from start to finish and while it is never especially violent it is always entertaining.
- Before John Carpenter lost his way he and Kurt Russell shared a dream run for a while, Big Trouble in Little China might not be a classic in the truest sense but it sure is a good time..
Just this: This movie has such a HUGE amount of charm, awesomely witty banter and tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, great actors (Kurt Russell as hilariously-cocky & self-assured Jack Burton, Kim Cattrall as charming & determined Gracie Law, Dennis Dun as Jack's "sidekick" Wang, Victor Wong as hilariously-quirky Egg Chen, & James Hong as sinister Lo Pan), all of whom totally own their roles and mesh so well together to really pull the viewer into their universe.
With writer W.D. Richter (director of "TThe Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai") making the adaptation and director John Carpenter leading the project "Big Trouble in Little China" was born as we know it: a modern day Western about a trucker facing the mysteries of ancient Chinese mythology.Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) is a trucker who enjoys the simple things of life, so he never expected that the day he took his friend Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) to pick up his fiancée Miao Yin (Suzee Pai) at the airport, he would find himself without his beloved truck, and in the middle of a battle between good and evil where ancient Chinese magic and martial collide will decide the future of Earth.
So now Jack and Wang will have to go on a rescue mission, to try to save Miao Yin from the hands of immortal sorcerer Lo Pan (James Hong) and his Chinatown street gangs before Lo Pan achieves his evil purposes.As written above, "Big Trouble in Little China" was conceived as an action packed Western with touches of comedy, and it shows, as thankfully W.D. Richter kept that angle while adding his own very personal touches to the script.
In "Big Trouble in Little China" once again he reunited with long-time collaborators including Kurt Russell, and gave life to the magical Chinatown balancing the action with the comedy in a perfect yet natural way that makes the film flow smoothly.
Victor Wong and Suzee Pai complete an excellent cast that deserves a lot of credit for the film's success."Big Trouble in Little China" was a box office failure when it was released, and it was Carpenter's biggest flop in his career and the film that prompted him to return to low-budget b-movies (he would do "Prince of Darkness" the following year).
The way it criticizes action films with a very tongue in cheek humor is quite remarkable today, but probably went over the head of the audiences in its initial release.While it meant a failure for Carpenter on its day, "Big Trouble in Little China" is definitely one of his best films, and one of the best action/comedy movies ever made.
I Suggjest this movie to fans of martial arts adventures, people who like gun scenes,gang fights, fans of John Carpenter, Kurt Russel fans, and people that like magic and monsters.
Carpenter and the cast and crew must have had a blast on this film because I can't think of a single movie that combines some of my favorite things about movies: Action, comedy, violence, martial arts, and a small tour bus driver named Egg who also knows a little magic.
Carpenter and the cast and crew must have had a blast on this film because I can't think of a single movie that combines some of my favorite things about movies: Action, comedy, violence, martial arts, and a small tour bus driver named Egg who also knows a little magic.
John Carpenter's 'Big Trouble In Little China' is one of the most amusing movies I have seen to date.
This 1980's cult classic, is weird, lively, entertaining & amusing.Kurt Russell stars as Truck Driver, Jack Burton, who helps his friend Wang Chi, played by Dennis Dun, rescue his green-eyed fiancée from bandits in San Francisco's Chinatown.
There are some mistakes that can be seen in the film and the monster looks fake but still only john carpenter can pull it off and the music is excellent especially the big trouble in little china end credits theme....all i can say give it a viewing!.
Needless to say, Big Trouble's thunder was taken.Whether its your love of the Three Storms, the yummy Kim Cattral, Kurt Russell in his greatest role, the kung fu, or a main character that is so cool he DOESN'T kiss the girl at the end, this movie is great.
Big Fun. Directed by John Carpenter ("Halloween," "The Thing") and starring frequent collaborator, Kurt Russell, "Big Trouble in Little China" tells the tale of Jack Burton, a trucker who leads a normal and somewhat uneventful life.
This is one of the great movies of the 80s in My collection that I think about all the time.Big Trouble in Little China is a true classic and there is very few films like it.
Kurt Russell takes on the roll of a very macho, yet slightly bumbling action hero in John Carpenters 'Big Trouble in Little China' and he plays it brilliantly.
In fact all of the cast play their roles as tongue in cheek, which is exactly what is required to make the film deliver.Crammed with action, comedy, kung fu fighting, magic, monsters and loads more; it is hard to beat the adventure and entertainment in this movie, and surprisingly it also has a good story too.If you've never seen 'Big Trouble in Little China' then you have missed a real treat - Watch it and just enjoy the ride, i reckon you'll be glad you did.8/10. |
tt0452660 | One Last Thing... | Dylan (Michael Angarano), a high school student with an inoperable brain tumor, lives with his widowed mother Carol (Cynthia Nixon) in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. He is invited on television by a wish-granting organization and stuns viewers with his wish: he wants to spend a weekend alone with supermodel Nikki Sinclaire (Sunny Mabrey).
Living in New York City, Nikki is watching television and hears about Dylan's wish; she is convinced by her agent to see Dylan, as part of a publicity stunt to improve Nikki's image, but her visit is very brief. Dylan is disappointed and decides to raise money and travel to New York, trying to see Nikki again.
Carol struggles with allowing her sick son (traveling with two friends) to be unsupervised in an unfamiliar city. Nikki has her own problems and is reluctant to even speak to Dylan.
Striking out and growing sicker, Dylan and his friends take a cab back to Pennsylvania, and eventually to the hospital. Surprisingly, Nikki shows up and, at his request, takes Dylan to the beach. They spend the day together talking, fishing, and kissing, eventually falling asleep on a blanket.
In the morning, Nikki discovers that Dylan has died. Nikki attends his funeral with friends and family. As he enters the afterlife, Dylan arrives on the beach to see his father, who died years before, fishing. He invites Dylan to join him. Dylan asks his father how he knows this is not a dream. His father replies, "You don't, and you never will". | romantic, flashback | train | wikipedia | I went to see this movie on the recommendation of a friend and didn't know what quite to expect - was it another 'teen flick' or something better.
"One Last Thing" takes the story of a teenager, dying of cancer, and turn it into a celebration of life that is neither sappy, nor cliché.
On the verge of accepting a charitable organization's last wish of a fishing trip with his football hero, the young Dylan throws caution to the wind and states his real wish on live TV: to spend a weekend alone with supermodel Nikki Sinclair.
Michael Angarano ("Seabiscuit," "Lords Of Dogstown," "Will & Grace) as the dying Dylan, Cynthia Nixon ("Sex and The City") as his widowed mom, and hot, hot, hot newcomer Sunny Mabrey ("xXx State of the Union") as the gorgeous but troubled model, bring amazing chemistry to Barry Stringfellow's remarkable script.
I heard about "One Last Thing," of all places, on my classical radio station KUSC here in L.A. Evening host Jim Svedja was so impressed by it at a screening that he took time from his usual musical broadcast to rave about the flick and interview Mr. Stringfellow, Mr. Steyemark and Ms. Mabrey (tough duty I'll bet).
One one hand, the plot sounded a little like it might come out of an afterschool special; but then again, the cast had Cynthia Nixon, Gina Gershon, Wyclef Jean, and I had heard a rumor about a certain movie star cameo.
What is rare is to find a film that is honest about its approach to death, and that manages to be both very funny and sad.
And while some of the laughs certainly qualify as gallows humor, for anyone that has been through something like this, you will appreciate the filmmakers' open approach of looking at all the shades of this experience.It is a strong testament to the film (and especially the writing) that from the opening scene, you know how this movie is going to end, yet that end is still very affecting.
The emotions that are generated are come by honestly, and true to the spirit of the characters.I'd especially like to mention the performances by all the actors playing the teenagers.
And there is a killer Wyclef Jean song over the end credits.I'll also add that this movie sparked more conversation between my girlfriend and I than any we've seen, and that's really saying something.So buy it, rent it, add it to your Netflix, tell a friend.
I had the great pleasure of seeing One Last Thing this weekend at the Philadelphia Film Festival.
Twice, in fact Saturday night's East Coast Premiere and a second screening on Sunday.The plot involves a 16 year-old (Dylan, played by Michael Angarano) who has a terminal illness.
So in lieu of posting spoilers, I'll just discuss some general impressions of the film and performances.Since the earliest days of theater, tragedy and comedy often go hand-in-hand, and it's at the heart of this story.
Yet I have no doubt that audiences elsewhere will "get the joke" and be able to relate to the working class, oil refinery town which is home to Dylan's family and friends.The power of this film comes from the script by Barry Stringfellow and a brilliant cast, led by Michael Angarano.
Arguably the most sought-after teenage actor in America, Angarano is finally beginning to tackle some powerful leading roles, with the soon-to-be released Bondage (which I saw at its World Premiere last month at SXSW) and now with One Last Thing.
As Sky High's Will and Lords of Dogtown's Sid we saw just a hint of the powerful range of Angarano's abilities, and in One Last Thing he uses both his comedic talents as well as dramatic ones in a way that we haven't really seen before.
Anyone who has seen his films will not be surprised at how elegantly he slips into this character, but no doubt others who are not as familiar with his body of work will discover what many already know.To say that this is a film about a boy's carnal desires in his last days is to miss the point.
Their lines elicit the most laughs and the fact that these were two "real" teenagers, both acting in their first film, gives their performances a ring of truth which more jaded veterans might actually have had to fight to find.But what struck me more than anything was just how incredibly economical Steyermark and editor Michael Berenbaum are in their work.
I was moved by One Last Thing, and it will leave you thinking in my book, the definition of a film that has hit its mark..
Michael Angarano does a superb job as the terminally ill boy, and his two buddies Slap and Ricky( Gideon Glick and Matt Bush) are in a way the best part of the movie, playing likable and hormone driven best pals.
I have seen some rather harsh critique of this film, and frankly cannot fathom it.The film splices comedy and drama well, and creates a beautiful portrayal of a young boy's last days around those who are closest to him, and his last wish(ill leave you to watch the movie to find out about this).
This movie was actually a good film that surprised me a little bit.
Instead, it turned out to be a not-bad film that balanced comedy and drama in it.
I don't know how to describe it without giving out spoilers - this film is a complete surprise, incredibly funny and incredibly poignant - and you feel good about laughing at the jokes and crying at the sad stuff.
All of the acting is excellent across the board - and the three kids are the most real group of teenagers I've ever seen on film.
This movie explores these events with sensitivity, humour, brutal honesty, and genuine confusion without allowing the actors (or audience) to fall into a pit of "why me" and self-pity.This is _not_ a teen love story.
It's a nice idea to take the standard cliché-driven movie concept of a dying boy's last wish and turn it on its head into something emotionally resonant and blackly humorous.
That's a shame since a cast of solid actors has been recruited by agents I'm sure were convinced of the film's appeal.The plot focuses on an incurably ill sixteen-year old named Dylan Jameison living with his widowed mother Karen in a Philadelphia suburb.
As Dylan's mother, Cynthia Nixon effortlessly finds her maternal instinct here, a role quite similar to the one she played in "Little Manhattan".
Sadly though, Stringfellow shoves her character into a ridiculously conceived romance.For an indie film, there are a surprising number of high profile people in smaller roles - an uncredited Ethan Hawke in flashbacks and dream sequences as Dylan's father; the welcome Gina Gershon as Nikki's agent; Brian Stokes Mitchell, Broadway's favorite troubadour, as Dylan's caring doctor; hip-hop maestro Wyclef Jean as a mystical cab driver; and Michael Rispoli (also uncredited) as an urban savior heavy into mysticism.
Cynthia Nixon and Michael Angarano Shine in this Tender Story.
The concept for this little Indie film - the dying wish of a teenager opening spiritual doors - is far from original, but Barry Stringfellow's strong script as directed by Alex Steyermark (whose only other directorial venture was 'Prey for Rock and Roll', though he has been on the crew of some very fine films like 'Pieces of April' etc) results in a far from ordinary drama.
Dylan (Michael Angarano) is a young teenager diagnosed with terminal cancer, a fact that he shares with his loony buddies (Gideon Glick and Matt Bush) who support him with silly but genuine companionship.
Dylan's mother Carol (Cynthia) is still reeling from her husband's death (Ethan Hawke) and facing the loss of the one remaining part of her family is devastating but her strength of character keeps a positive support for Dylan.
When Dylan is informed by his doctor (Brian Stokes Mitchell) that further radiation and chemotherapy are useless, Dylan places his desire for living on one last thing...he is on a TV show where dying wishes are granted, and rather than the asking for expected fishing trip with football hero Jason (Johnny Messner), he opts for a weekend alone with supermodel Nikki Sinclair (Sunny Mabrey).
Dylan's disease progresses to the point of final hospitalization when Nikki re-enters the sad room and changes things.The power that changes this predictable story lies in the extraordinarily sensitive performances of Michael Angarano, who plays Dylan with a twinkle in his eye and allows us to feel his burden with resorting to bathos, and the always-impressive Cynthia Nixon whose performance as Dylan's mother is the most understated and heart wrenching on film.
In all, this is a striking, simple, compelling film that rises well above its premise to become an important statement about death and dying and the power of hope and love and family.
The movie is actually an exploration of the meaning of life and death and how it affects both the dying and ones left behind.I felt that, as the two wacky friends of the dying kid used him a little as a macabre joy ride, so the writer of the film took the tragedy of death and twisted it to fit his message on life.
The story takes place in Marcus Hook, PA and New York City, but hearing how the set for the house that Dylan (Michael Angarano) lives in was actually a different place for each room they shot was amazing..
Having seen some comedy elements in to the movie made it a little more lite for people to watch it.
I could have vote for more but at the end the movie had me feel a little disappointed on the view of what the director wants to pass about life after death.The only thing that touched me and made me feel something different about this movie was to see that really these people have a lot of power and their attitude towards death.
Especially to people that had lived a similar story in their lifes, its really touching!!.
MagPics is of course the distribution arm of 2929 Entertainment, which is owned by Dallas Maverick Mark Cuban.Last year, 2929 announced that it was eliminating its movie windows and that it was essentially making its DVDs available in stores at the same time as the film's release in theaters.Basically, if you prefer to see this movie on the big screen, you can go to your nearest Landmark theater on Friday, May 5th.But, if you don't, you can go instead to the video store and pick it up on Tuesday, May 23rd and not have to wait so long for the DVD.It won't be the usual 3-month or 5-month distance between the film and DVD releases.
The story centers on Dylan, a 16-year-old kid who is dying of cancer.
What proceeds are Dylan's attempts to make that wish come true.But, instead of ONE LAST THING, the movie should have been titled "The Film That Tries to Justify Statutory Rape." This film is more about taking us to a contrived destination that defies reason or believability than really giving us something honest and real.
It tries to be heartfelt but really just comes off superficial and annoying.For example, Dylan's two friends, Ricky and Slap, played by Philly natives Matt Bush and Gideon Glick, tag along when Dylan sets out to New York to score with the super model, but while Dylan is throwing up in the bathroom and is clearly becoming sicker, all his friends want to do is concentrate on sneaking into a strip club.Wow, two teenage, horny boys with a one track mind!
His efforts are wasted.Michael Angarano who plays Dylan is a cute kid and potentially a great actor, but I was "so" not impressed with his performance here, and quite frankly I haven't really been impressed with any of the movies I've seen him in.
The film couldn't decide if it was a melodrama, a teen-coming-of-age story, a comedy, a satire of America's love of celebrity, a New-Age/M.
I saw it in a packed-house screening at the Philadelphia Film Festival, and from comments overheard as we exited I assume I am in the minority here, but I really thought it was not worth my time or money.
Cynthia Nixon and Michael Angarano, along with the two best-buds Matt Bush and Gideon Glick (who both, apparently, have limited screen experience so far), did excellent jobs of defining and delivering their characters.
when a movie makes me laugh out loud and kills me at the same time I know I have experienced a great film.
"One Last Thing ..." takes on the big issues of what makes life meaningful in a fast moving, character driven story.
It was only last year and this was the only thing on that I attempted to watch this film.
The film it self is about a terminally ill boy who's last wish is to go on a date with a model.
Screenwriter Barry Stringfellow skillfully weaves irreverent humor and poignant ideas, the kind that so many of us relate to but from some writers can sound so corny, into a story that moves from a gritty industrial town to the big city of New York.
The locations are both supporting actors: You can tell, just from the furniture in their kitchen, the massive industry that looms over their town, and the wide-eyed looks the three kids give the Big City, what kind of lives these characters lead.The film's especially strong in dealing with unfinished business: Anyone who's ever loved and lost a parent will be touched by the boy's "sightings" of his dead father, which are half hallucination, half heartfelt wish..
I can't remember when I had the last time this much of fun and sadness in one film together, in the right balance.Michael Angarano (Dylan) shows the perfect face and attitude for his slow paced character, and I also loved her mother's play.
I loved the two friends together, in Dylan's room, in New York, at the funeral, they were just teens, enjoying life.Now again I remembered that I live once, so I should do what I like, and do it now...
This film dealt with issues that people must face when fate deals a tragic illness to someone we love.
The teenage actors were very believable and delightful, skillfully handling roles that brought humor to the film.
The entire cast did an exceptional job, but particularly, Michael Angarano is fabulous as the terminally ill Dylan.
The movie has more heart and more depth then you would think by looking at the cover, dealing with issues of the past, regret, loss and the afterlife, all of the things you imagine an imminent death would bring.
Writer Barry Stringfellow does an excellent job balancing comedy and drama without getting schmaltzy and cliché.
I rented it thinking, "Yeah, time for some mindless entertainment," and instead was pleasantly surprised by intelligence and courage the film offers..
Taking my girlfriend to see a movie about a teenage boy that wants to final wish in life to be having a weekend with a supermodel was a really tough sell, but after watching the movie she thanked me!
Screenwriter Barry Stringfellow writes a beautifully touching, and comical script in "One Last Thing".
The film is special from start to finish, as powerful performances from Michael Arangano and Sunny Mabrey reach out from the screen and truly touch the hearts of viewers everywhere.What truly struck me about this film was the touching story.
Well, for sixteen year old Dylan Jamieson it was his wish to spend the weekend with his favourite supermodel, Nikki Sinclaire (Sunny Mabrey).
The story is based around Dylan's wish to meet Nikki, while interlaced with touching roles played by Dylan's deceased father (Ethan Hawke)and his mother (Cynthia Nixon)along with his comical best friends Ricky (Matt Bush) and Slap (Gideon Glick)who truly add a great dimension to the film!
The movie is a wild and touching ride that you should surely watch, as I guarantee you will enjoy this great story by Barry Stringfellow.
Featuring an excellent use of the flashback technique to add a brilliant back story the writing and acting in this movie will leave you feeling satisfied time and time again!
Relatively new director Alex Steyermark and TV Writer Barry Stringfellow make a very moving and touching film and best of all a very real film about a teenager with terminal cancer.
The story and film is really about life and death and the struggle with it and it's brilliant!!
The lead characters are brilliant and the story is captivating and touching.Young but veteran and talented actor Michael Angarano gives an honest to God Oscar worthy performance as typical teenager Dylan Jameison.
The only thing about Dylan is that he is dying of cancer.
Cynthia Nixon plays Dylan's Mom Carol and although she kind of has more of a supporting role does a terrific job at that.
Sunny Mabrey plays the object of Dylan's obsession...his "One Last Thing.." super model Nikki Sinclaire.
Matt Bush, and Gideon Glick play Dylan's best friends and at first I thought they were overused and out of place as the wise cracking, rather immature stoner buddies but then I realized these guys ARE your typical teenager and they were dealing with the cancer and death of their best friend as well in their own way.
Ethan Hawke plays a strangely very small cameo as Dylan's Dad in flashbacks and dreams.The film is really made by the chemistry and story between Dylan, Nikki and Carol.
If you love a good story, maybe even some tears and laughter then One Last Thing is the absolute must see!!
If this were a Hollywood film, I'm sure they would have found a way for the boy to miraculously live in the end. |
tt0424938 | Karla | This movie--based on a true story that shocked Canadians and dominated headlines--opens in Oct 2000 with Karla Homolka approaching the 8 year mark of a 12 year manslaughter sentence and up for parole. Under Canadian law, parole would usually be virtually automatic, but Karla's case is no ordinary case. Karla has been sent to Saskatoon to meet with a prison appointed psychiatrist, Dr. Arnold, to evaluate her suitability for parole. Most of the movie is told from the vantage point of Karla and Dr. Arnold examining the past actions that landed her in prison with a view to making a decision on parole.Karla begins by discussing how she and her ex-husband Paul Bernardo first met. At age 18, Karla is working in a veterinary clinic and is sent to Toronto by her employer to attend a veterinary convention. However, she is also interested in meeting men. Karla and a female colleague are in a hotel restaurant when they are approached by Paul and a male friend. There is an almost immediate strong attraction between Paul and Karla, and they soon find themselves making love in Karla's hotel room. Karla's colleague and Paul's friend are also in the room and feel quite uncomfortable.Karla and Paul begin a relationship which, at first, seems quite happy and successful. Karla gives Paul a pair of handcuffs for use in sex play. However, while having sex, Paul introduces the possibility that he might be a rapist. In looking back at this incident with Dr. Arnold, Karla claims she thought this was just innocent sex talk on Paul's part.Paul's true meaning, however, is quickly shown to the viewer to be something far more sinister: Paul is, in fact, the notorious Scarborough rapist, who has been terrorizing women with frequent and brutal assaults. However, the police and the general public do not yet know the true identity of the Scarborough rapist, and Karla also claims not to have known at this time. A police sketch of the Scarborough rapist is published in a Toronto newspaper. This looks enough like Paul that people who know him report him. Paul is brought in for questioning, but denies committing the assaults and agrees to provide a DNA sample. We aren't immediately told the outcome of the DNA testing.Meanwhile Paul has developed a sexual interest in Karla's younger sister, Tammy. This arouses Karla's jealousy, especially on one occasion one summer when Paul and Tammy disappeared on their own--with Karla absent--for many hours, with their exact activities being kept secret from Karla (and the viewer). In recollecting these events, Karla is reluctant to be fully candid and is reminded by Dr. Arnold that she must be truthful to get parole. Paul gradually reveals that he has truly depraved plans for Tammy: he is attracted to Tammy because she is believed to be a virgin, but he claims that Karla is still the one he loves. Nevertheless he wants to take Tammy's virginity, but not have Tammy know. He concocts a plan to rape Tammy while she is unconscious, using drugs stolen from Karla's clinic.Although reluctant, Karla eventually agrees to participate, and Paul and Karla film their assault on the unconscious Tammy. Poor performance by Karla in making the video leads to physical abuse by Paul. The results of the assault are tragic: Tammy succumbs to the drugs and dies, with Paul and Karla able to successfully pass the death off as 'accidental' to the authorities.Paul and Karla then move into a new house, with Paul's income from an illegal smuggling operation helping to pay the rent. They get a dog, Buddy, and Karla is beaten by Paul when she doesn't clean up the dog's mess fast enough. Paul's physical abuse of Karla increases, and he continues to rape women. He is also trying to start a career as a rap musician, and Karla enjoys this more positive side to Paul. After a trip to Florida, described by Paul as his one last bachelor fling, he returns to their home in St. Catherine's and continues planning their upcoming wedding--although he briefly considers leaving Karla for a woman named Tracy he met in Florida.Prowling alone late at night in another neighborhood, Paul encounters a teenage girl, Tina, and kidnaps her at knifepoint. He brings her home and, both alone and with Karla, sexually assaults Tina and films the assault. Tina begs for her life and to be reunited with her younger brother. After she accidentally opens her eyes, Tina can see and potentially identify Paul and Karla. Paul and Karla confer and agree they have to kill Tina to avoid being caught. Paul strangles her and the next day proposes a plan to dispose of the body.The body is cut into pieces and then encased in cement and disposed of. Karla considers leaving Paul but is too obsessed with her wedding to do so. Paul and Karla get married shortly thereafter and honeymoon in Hawaii--where Karla says she endured a further beating from Paul. They return to Canada to the news that they didn't hide the body as well as they thought: it has been found and identified.Paul and Karla decide to lie low for awhile, with the couple hosting a party for their friends. Karla goes to bed early and Paul decides to have sex with--or possibly rape--another female houseguest. Paul's poor behavior provokes a fight and causes him to lose friends--and Paul doesn't care that he is gradually losing his friends.About a year passes, and Paul and Karla are out driving and encounter a teenage girl, Kaitlyn, whom they decide to kidnap. They do so, but the crime scene is later identified by the presence of a shoe that Kaitlyn loses in the struggle. As with Tammy and Tina, they assault Kaitlyn at their home and film the assault. Paul also forces Kaitlyn to refer to herself in very degrading terms on video. She does so for awhile, but is also at times quite defiant, calling Paul a 'bastard'. Paul beats both Kaitlyn and Karla and leaves for awhile. With Paul absent, Kaitlyn tries to persuade Karla that Karla is herself a victim of Paul and they should both leave. Although Karla admits that Paul beats her regularly, she says Kaitlyn doesn't understand the situation.Kaitlyn is therefore unsuccessful in getting Karla to let her go. After his return, Paul forces Kaitlyn to watch television coverage of her kidnapping and then murders her.Paul becomes overconfident when he hears news coverage of the murder investigation, thinking that the detectives are pursuing false leads. His ego is deflated, however, when police arrive at his home to investigate the murder. Although the detectives lack sufficient evidence to make an arrest, Paul is believed by Karla to be really scared by this point. Paul is also nearly caught crossing the border, accompanied by Karla, with smuggled cigarettes. Although they avoid being caught, something about her responses to the border guard anger Paul, and he beats her again. His beatings are becoming significantly more vicious as time goes on.After enduring yet another beating, Karla reaches out to an older pair of friends, and is nearly persuaded to leave Paul. Eventually Paul gets her to stay, but he beats her again, and locks her in the cellar which Karla believes is haunted by Tina's ghost. With the bruising from the beatings now very obvious, friends at work convince Molly and Dan--Karla's older friends--to get involved. They do and Karla finally leaves Paul. Paul is arrested--but only for the beating of Karla--and is released after one day.However, the police attention renews their interest in Paul, and he is now the main suspect in the murders. Paul and his home are put under 24 hour surveillance. He is also positively identified by DNA evidence as the Scarborough rapist at about the same time. One of Paul's last remaining male friends, Doug, visits and implores Paul to clean up his act. In response Paul claims that Karla murdered Tammy and threatens to expose her involvement.In denial as to her own level of involvement in the crimes, Karla tries to start a new life with a new man she meets and with whom she has a brief relationship. The net finally closes in on Paul and he is arrested for the murders and rapes. Karla is named as a suspect wanted for questioning, and Karla realizes she won't be able to rebuild her life so easily.In court, with Paul on trial, Paul admits to many of the crimes but denies involvement in the murders. Karla testifies otherwise. Paul is convicted of all charges and gets life without parole, whereas Karla gets 12 years in a plea bargain.The scene then returns to Oct 2000 and Dr. Arnold's discussions with Karla about parole. Karla asks whether Dr. Arnold believes she is responsible for the murders, especially Kaitlyn's. Dr. Arnold claims to be interested only in what she may do in the future, not what she did do in the past--although this is a bit incongruous since most of their discussion has focused on the past.Karla then gives her own conclusion about her level of responsibility: she still denies killing Kaitlyn or Tina but admits to killing Tammy. Karla is denied parole and is released on July 4, 2005 after serving out the balance of her sentence. | flashback, violence, sadist, home movie | train | imdb | null |
tt1325004 | The Twilight Saga: Eclipse | Eclipse opens at nighttime where Riley Biers (Xavier Samuel) is exiting a store on his way home. A driving rainstorm begins as he walks on his way. Without warning, he is knocked down. Looking around, startled, he cannot see anyone-- the street he is walking down appears completely deserted. Getting scared, he pulls his coat closer and picks up his pace. Just as suddenly he is hurled through the air and against a wall-- and still there is nobody and nothing in side. Riley starts to yell for help and breaks into a run. He gets too close to a pier on a marina and almost falls into the water. Terrified, he screams out to his unseen assailant what he wants. There is a blur as something rushes past far too quickly to be seen, and Riley's hand is wounded. He screams in agony and falls to the ground-- and the wound on his hand strongly resembles some kind of bite wound.Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) are in a meadow where she is reading from "Fire & Ice" in preparation for an English final. Edward again asks Bella to marry him, and runs into the old impasse-- he asks her, "marry me," and Bella responds with, "change me." Finally Edward offers a compromise where he will change her when they're married. Bella kisses him but then says it's more like coercion. Their views om marriage differ and she teases him about the divorce rate. Edward assures her that the "vampire-human divorce rate" is lower. They kiss more and Bella says she's due back home at four. Edward just smiles as she gathers up her things and starts on her way home.Charlie (Billy Burke) is reading the newspaper headline that discusses a rash of murders in Seattle. Bella arrives home exactly at four like Charlie wanted. There is a bit of brief debate about her being grounded "for life" (as in New Moon) and Charlie admits that he would like to see a bit of separation between Bella and Edward, even though he expects her answer that Edwart is part of her life. So Charlie offers her a deal. He'll end her punishment if she agrees to see some of her other friends as well, and suggests she see Jacob, as Billy has told Charlie that Jacob is going through a very rough time lately, and just a short time ago, when Bella was in that position, Jake was there for her when she needed him. Bella calls Jacob but gets his voice-mail and chooses not to leave a message. A voiceover from Bella explains that Jacob hasn't spoken to her in weeks, and she's been hoping to set things right. She pulls a handwritten letter out of her dresser drawer and looks at it briefly.Bella gets into her truck to drive to the reservation, but it won't start. Suddenly Edward is in the passenger seat. He knows she was heading to the reservation, and Bella realizes that Alice saw it, and that Edward rigged her truck to not be able to start, in order to prevent her from driving there. They argue about her seeing Jacob. She is adamant that she has until graduation but Edward is obsessed with her safety and is convinced she won't have any among the Quileutes.The next day at school, during lunch, Edward joins Bella at her main table with Mike (Michael Welch), Eric (Justin Chon), Jessica (Anna Kendrick) and Angela (Christian Serratos). Jessica is the class valedictorian and Mike and Eric are helping her prepare her speech. Alice (Ashley Greene) and Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) join them all as well, and Alice stuns them all with an announcement that she is going to host a graduation party-- at the Cullen home. Jessica and Angela are pleasantly shocked, as nobody has ever been to the Cullen home before (except Bella of course). Suddenly Alice sits back with a worried look on her face, and Bella quickly realizes she's having a vision of something. But neither she, Jasper nor Edward will discuss it with her.Edward drives Bella to the police station where Charlie is on duty. They see him with Riley Biers' parents discussing his 'missing persons' case-- Riley has been missing for a year now. Bella realizes Edward knows something about it, and he tells her that the Cullens have been paying very close attention to the rise of murders and disappearances in Seattle. They suspect vampires and believe that if the crime wave escalates, the Voluri will take action. Bella is worried that the Volturi will then make their way to Forks and see that she is still human, but Edward assures her it won't come to that. The Cullens are prepared to go to Seattle if need be to try and get to the bottom of things themselves.As Riley's parents exit the station, Charlie comes out as well. Edward tells Charlie that Carlisle and Esme have bought a plane ticket for Bella to fly down to Jacksonville for a few days to visit her mother Renee. Charlie is surprised but agrees to the visit. Bella is reluctant until it is revealed that Edward will be going with her. This Charlie doesn't like so much but he still consents to the trip.Bella is in Jacksonville laying in the sun with her mother Renee (Sarah Clarke). They are talking about her college plans. Renee hopes Bella will consider a college in Florida, both because it will let her see her daughter more, and because Bella was always a sun-lover. Bella is planning to attend college in Alaska, saying they have a good science program, but Renee knows better-- she knows Bella is in love with Edward and wants to follow him. Finally Renee gives Bella her graduation present-- she collected college T-shirts from every state and sewn them together into a quilt for Bella. Bella is touched and hugs Renee gratefully.Back in Forks, it is nighttime and the Cullens are standing watch in the forest. Carlisle (Peter Facinelli) asks Alice if she's certain this is the spot in her vision. Alice is certain, and they keep watch. Suddenly Alice alerts them to look to their left. The Cullens all take off in pursuit, and it is seen they are chasing Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard); Alice had foreseen her return to Forks. Emmett (Kellan Lutz) nearly catches Victoria but she wriggles free and keeps running with the Cullens in hot pursuit. Finally Victoria leaps across a stream-- into Quileute territory, where the Cullens are under treaty not to venture. Victoria and the Cullens continue running down opposite sides of the stream when the Quileute wolf pack, having smelled Victoria's presence, emerges from the trees in pursuit of Victoria. Looking to pit one side against the other, Victoria cleverly leaps back and forth from one bank of the stream to the other. Both sides narrowly miss catching her. Finally Emmett loses his patience and jumps after her onto the Quileute lands. Victoria's plan pays off as Paul (Alex Meraz) moves to block Emmett from crossing into Quileute territory. So intent is Paul on not letting Emmett pass that Victoria escapes from both sides in the confusion.Edward and Bella have returned to Forks and are driving to school. Jacob (Taylor Lautner) is there waiting. He confronts Edward about the Cullens trespassing on Quileute territory. Naturally Bella wants to know what Jacob is talking about, and Edward evasively says that Emmett and Paul had a misunderstanding. Jacob is amused despite his anger and finally helps Bella put two and two together-- Alice's vision in the lunchroom was Victoria's return to Forks, and Carlisle and Esme bought her the plane ticket to Florida to get her out of town so she would be safe from Victoria. Bella is furious at Edward's lie, but also confronts Jacob on not caling her. He says he had nothing to say, and Bella says she has plenty. She climbs on Jacob's motorcycle behind him despite Edward's protest and rides with him to the reservation.Some of the wolf pack members are there to greet them on their arrival, teasing Jacob about his continuous thoughts about whether Bella would call him, and whether or not he should call her. Bella then meets Leah Clearwater (Julia Jones), Harry Clearwater's daughter. On Leah's shoulder is both the mark of a Quileute wolf-pack member... and a chip larger than Bella's truck.Sam Uley (Chaske Spencer), the leader of the wolf-pack, and his fiance Emily (Tinsel Korey) emerge from the house. Emily goes to hug Bella as Sam and Jacob talk about Victoria's return. Sam assures Jacob that Victoria won't get through their line again. As they enter the house, Bella glances over her shoulder to see Leah assume wolf form and practice the cliff-dive.Bella and Jacob are talking later. Jacob explains how Leah and her younger brother Seth gained the gift of the 'spirit warrior' (ability to assume wolf form) after Harry died. Jacob also explains that Leah was once in love with Sam, and he loved her in return, until Emily came into the tribe's life. Jacob explains to Bella, the Quileute wolf-pack's process of 'imprinting' on someone-- an event that bonds a male and female as complete soulmates. The imprinting process is often very sudden, spontaneous, and beyond the control of the wolf-pack member doing the imprinting. As all the wolf-pack members can always hear each other's thoughts, they always have to live with the pain Leah feels about losing Sam, and Sam's guilt over imprinting on someone else after he and Leah had grown so close. Bella begins to suspect that Jacob has imprinted on her, but Jacob says that if he'd imprinted on anyone, Bella would know it for certain. He's still him, and as he says, Bella is still Bella. But when Bella says, 'until graduation,' Jacob realizes that Bella intends to go through with becoming a vampire, which sickens him beyond belief. In a fit of disgust he voices a preference for Bella to die rather than let her become something that is unnatural and neither dead nor alive. Quickly he curses himself for going too far, looking painfully stricken at Bella's expression of indignant anger.At the Swan house, Riley is in Bella's room. He fingers the dreamcatcher on her bed and steals one of her red blouses, sniffing it closely. Stealthily descending the stairs, he passes Charlie asleep on the couch and bends over him as if to feed on him. But Riley then hears the door open, and using his speed, escapes from the house undetected.Bella comes into the house, and Charlie is pleased when Bella tells him she was with Jacob and not Edward. But suddenly there is a knock at the door and both of them realize it's Edward. Bella steps outside to greet him, but he is deeply concerned. He almost broke the treaty to make sure she was okay. Suddenly he smells something and rushes up to her room. Fingering her dreamcatcher, he tells her that someone's been in her room.Edward brings Bella back to his house. Edward didn't recognize the scent of whoever entered Bella's room. The Cullens have scouted around the area and determined that the scent vanished five miles south of Bella's house. They suspect a nomad vampire might be involved, as Alice would have seen a vision of Victoria. They suspect the Volturi might be involved, but Alice disagrees, saying she's also been watching Aro, the Volturi ruler, through her visions.The Cullens are discussing another round of protection vigils over Bella's house (to the displeasure of Rosalie (Nikki Reed)). Bella knows that the Cullens cannot keep watch over her and Charlie, and still search for both Victoria and the mysterious intruder, all while keeping themselves fed.It is dayime and Bella has brought Jacob to her house so he can get the scent of the intruder. Outside Jacob tells Edward that he will know the scent if he crosses it again. Edward refuses to trust Jacob and Bella has to force herself between them to break them apart. A voiceover from Bella explains the extremely uneasy partnership between the Cullens and the Quileute wolf-pack, as they guard the house in shifts-- the wolves relieving the Cullens at intervals so they can hunt for animal blood to feed on (two wolves are seen relieving Alice and Emmett as Bella watches).Edward and Bella go to meet Jacob on the shoulder of a road through the woods. Edward is dropping Bella off to spend some time on the Quileute reservation. Despite the partnership, the antipathy between Edward and Jacob drips out of the very air between them whenever they are face to face. Edward passionately kisses Bella goodbye in front of Jacob, and Jacob in turns gives Bella an affectionate hug before Edward drives off.Jacob brings Bella to attend a meeting of the Quileute tribal council. Some of the younger pack members are attending, including Seth (BooBoo Stewart), who Bella meets for the first time. Seth's mother, Sue Clearwater, is on the council now after the death of her husband Harry. Bella is to attend the gathering as the first person not of the tribe to hear the tribe's histories.Billy Black (Gil Birmingham) recites a story of the Quileute tribe as spirit warriors; shapeshifters; able to assume the form of a powerful wolf. He tells of the tribe's first encounter with one of the Cold Ones. Two spirit warriors vanquished one of them after it had fed on some of the tribe. But the Cold One vanquished had a mate (like Victoria was the mate of James) and she attacked the village in vengeance. The Tribal Elder, Taha Aki, engaged her in combat. The Cold Woman was winning the battle and seemed poised to kill him, when Taha Aki's third wife, who had no powers and could not join the battle, stabbed herself with a knife so the Cold Woman would smell the blood and be distracted, allowing Taha Aki to recover and slay her. Taha Aki's third wife is celebrated as a heroine of the tribe for her selfless courage; her sacrifice of herself saved the village and the people. The Cold Ones are the only remaining enemy of the Quileute people. The magic in the tribe's blood awakens when they are near. Billy warns that conflict is near... and the tribe must be ready to face it.In Seattle, Riley is watching over a small scene of violence and Mayhem. He bends over a teenage girl, Bree (Jodelle Ferland), who we see has just been changed into a vampire. Bree is confused and terrified over her new state, and Riley only tells her he'll "find her someone to drink" and suggests she "try not to get killed."Back at the Cullen home, Edward is arriving with Bella. They find Carlisle, Jasper and Emmett watching a news report about the escalating violence in Seattle; the rise in killings and disappearances. Jasper knows that no one vampire could cause such destruction. The Cullens realize that the culprits are "newborns," which they explain to Bella is the state when a human is first transformed into a vampire; their first few months as one. This is when a vampire is at their most vicious, uncontrolled state, overwhelmed with a wild thirst for blood. The newborns are completely undisciplined. Jasper and Carlisle deduce that someone is creating a small army of them. This means they must go to Seattle to try and stop it. The newborns are being created to destroy someone or something-- the Cullens are the only vampire family close enough to be targets. Carlisle knows that if the Cullens don't stop the newborns, the Volturi will arrive to do so-- he's surprised they haven't stepped in yet. Edward theorizes that the Volturi are actually behind the uprising; he knows that Aro and Marcus dearly want for both himself and Alice to join them, and if the rest of the Cullen family were slain, they would have nobody else to go to.Bella is arriving home to find her father looking at a missing persons poster for Riley, made by his parents when he first vanished. Charlie notes that they are still desperate to find their son even after a year. Bella wonders why they keep looking, and Charlie answers that he would do so in their place, if it were Bella that was missing.At night, Bella is lying beside Edward in her bed. Despite her determination to become a vampire, she is coming to terms with knowing she can never see her family or the rest of her friends again, as her body will never age and she will appear 18 years old even when she's supposed to be 40. Edward uses this as more ammo in the argument not to change her. He warns her that he's been through the consequences she will face for undergoing the change. She believes that Edward has a soul, but he doesn't, and he cannot bear the thought of taking her soul away just so she wouldn't grow old and die as his mortal wife. Even though he'd eventually lose her, he feels that taking her soul away would be the most selfish act he could do.The next day Bella is on the reservation with Jacob, admiring the beauty of the land. She invites him to the graduation party, though she is not surprised at his lack of an answer; going to the Cullen home is the last thing on his 'to-do' list. Bella notes there's something on his mind. Jacob says he didn't want to be so forward, but there's no time left; she needs to hear the truth. Jacob confides that he is in love with Bella, and he is fighting for her heart; he desperately hopes she will choose him over Edward. He puts her hand on his chest so she can feel his heart beating and that he is a living being of warm flesh and blood. With him, Bella would never need to change; she would never need to give up being human or say goodbye to her family. Bella tries to explain that she doesn't feel that way for him, but Jacob doesn't buy it; he is convinced she just doesn't want to admit it to herself. He intends to fight for her until her heart stops beating, and is visibly pained at her response that he wouldn't be waiting for long. Jacob says that unlike Edward, he can kiss her without fear of hurting her. But Jacob goes too far when he grabs Bella and passionately kisses her to demonstrate his point; kissing her without her consent. Bella blazes with anger and she slams her fist into his face. Jacob doesn't flinch; he barely feels the punch... but Bella does, and her hand is broken. When Jacob drives her home, Edward is there, ready to start an altercation with Jacob for hurting Bella-- he read Jacob's thoughts. He demands that Jacob wait next time for Bella to ask for him to kiss her, and Jacob vows that one day, she will.Charlie has to separate Edward and Jacob, and he is amused at Jacob's explanation that Bella broke her hand hitting him in the face. Bella's insufferable clumsiness and tendency to be accident-prone makes the explanation completely plausible to Charlie.Edward brings Bella to his house where Carlisle bandages her hand and determines that it is not actually broken, but merely sprained. Emmett is amused at Bella's bravado in hitting Jacob and there is a brief exchange of teasing words between them about her becoming a newborn. Rosalie hears, gets very annoyed, and she curtly leaves the room. Bella follows her, determined to finally get an explanation of why Rosalie hates Bella so much. Rosalie smiles sardonically and even a little sadly as she says she doesn't hate Bella... in fact she envies her, because unlike Rosalie herself or any of the Cullens, Bella has a choice, and Rosalie is the most adamant that she is choosing wrong.Rosalie finally opens her heart to Bella and tells her about herself as a human in the early 20th century. She was engaged to the town's most eligible bachelor, a man named Royce, even though she didn't know him that well. She was young and a romantic, in love with the idea of being in love. But one fateful night she happened across him on a street corner where he was with some of his friends, and all of them were drunk. He tried to come on to her, and she pushed him away, seeing he was drunk. In response Royce grabbed her and brutally raped her, and then beat her within an inch of her life, all while his friends watched, and they left her in the street to die-- and as Rosalie tells Bella, she dearly wanted to have died. But Carlisle happened across her, and changed her in order to save her, though to Rosalie, he wasn't actually helping her at all. The two things in her vampire existence that brought her true happiness and pleasure, were exacting a brutal vengeance on Royce (we see a flashback of her smashing into his apartment wearing a wedding dress and smiling wickedly), and finding and falling in love with Emmett. But even her relationship as Emmett's mate, to her, is incomplete. She is young and beautiful, but she would give it up in a moment to be able to bear Emmett's children. She and Emmett are frozen in time, and she does not fear or worry that she would grow old as a human-- she would do it in a minute if both she and Emmett could become human again and raise their own family. Bella sympathizes with Rosalie but insists that Edward is the one thing she wants more than anything else in life. But Rosalie knows better. She knows that once Bella is a 'newborn,' there is one thing she will want more; one thing she will crave so desperately, she will kill in order to get it... blood.On the streets of Seattle, the newborns are causing more havoc and violence. Riley furiously reins them in, reprimanding them about the need to keep a low profile. He tells them something big is coming on the horizon, and they can't gain control of themselves, then they'll all soon die, including himself. He looks out to the sky, seemingly worried about something.High on a rooftop, watching, is the source of Riley's worry, even if he doesn't know it-- Jane (Dakota Fanning) is watching the scene unfold, along with Felix (Daniel Cudmore), Alec (Cameron Bright) and Demitri (Charlie Bewley). Jane has, in fact, been keeping close tabs on the newborn uprising, and the Volturi are concerned. Felix believes that the amount of attention the newborn uprising has drawn, will cause other vampires to question the effectiveness of the Volturi, and that the four of them should consult Aro. Jane silences Felix with her power to cause intense pain, and says she knows that Aro's decisions are being watched, which is why the four of them were sent here; they must decide themselves. Jane is deep in thought over whether to terminate the newborns immediately, or to first let them do what they were created for-- she knows they were created for a reason.Graduation Day arrives at Forks High School. Jessica's valedictorian speech centers around what kids want to be when they grow up, and this time in all their lives being about making mistakes, changing their minds, and this being what enables them to finally know what their future will be. Bella is thoughtful as she listens; knowing that it applies to her and her desire to join Edward.The senior class is enjoying a lively party at the Cullen home. Bella congratulates Jessica on her speech. Bella is surprised when Jacob shows up at the party. Jacob apologizes for kissing her against her will, and gives her a hand-made bracelet as a graduation present; a bracelet with a small wooden carving of a wolf.Alice comes down the stairs, and stops in her tracks, a look of worry on her face. Both Bella and Jacob know she is seeing another vision. Alice grimly tells them that the Cullens aren't going to need to go to Seattle-- "they are coming here."The Cullens convene with Bella, Jacob, Quil and Embry in the den. Carlisle explains to Jacob about the newborn army-- newly changed vampires. Having read Alice's mind, Edward has seen her vision and has determined that the missing teenager, Riley Biers, is among them; possibly even a leader in the army, though he is not their creator... Carlisle realizes that whoever is behind the uprising knows of Alice's power and is exploiting the 'blind spots' in her visions to stay under the radar. The worst part, though, is that Alice saw Riley passing around the red blouse he stole from Bella's room so all the newborns could get her scent. The newborns are coming to Forks and will arrive in four days... and their mission is to kill Bella.Carlisle tells Jacob that this means the Cullens have to face the newborns in what is sure to be a terrible and ugly fight. He knows lives will be lost. Jacob looks at Quil and Embry, who silently nod to him without hesitation. Jacob says that the Quileutes are in; they will fight alongside the Cullens to destroy the newborns. Carlisle says that Jasper has extensive knowledge of newborns, including how to battle and defeat them. He asks Jacob to see if Sam will agree to the wolf-pack meeting with the Cullens so they can all train in these combat methods. Jasper is satisfied that the newborns will have no knowledge of the Quileute wolf-pack, thus giving them and the Cullens an edge, in addition to sufficient numbers. Bella is against Jacob fighting, but he waves her off, reminding her that battling and killing vampires is the wolf-pack's job; the reason they have their powers. He also reminds Bella that she has long desperately wanted to see the Quileute wolf-pack and the Cullens set aside their differences and work together.The next day the Quileutes meet with the Cullens in the woods. They are in wolf-form, still not trusting the Cullens enough to take human form when they will be more vulnerable. Edward, who can read their minds, volunteers to 'translate' for them. Edward says that the Quileutes are asking how newborns differ from other vampires. Carlistle explains that the newborn stage is when a vampire possesses the greatest degree of physical strength and power, because their own human blood still lingers in their bodies. Jasper has the experience they will all need to learn to fight and defeat them.Jasper explains what he knows of a newborn's immense power and how they fight. He admonishes everyone that a newborn will often try to move behind an enemy and get their arms around them, which will allow them to crush their enemy in their grasp instantly. Jasper warns everyone that they must never go for an obvious kill, because a newborn will know to watch for it... and they will turn the tables. Jasper puts his family members through a training session practicing combat tactics and moves to use against the newborns. Jasper himself is the best fighter in the family; the only one who can even match him is Alice, who can not only foresee his actions, but as his mate, she knows him better than anyone else.After the training is done for the day, Bella asks Jasper if there's any way she can contribute to the battle. Jasper answers that her scent will distract the newborns and divert their attention; their hunting drive and bloodthirst will take over and make them vulnerable. Bella is curious about Jasper's knowledge and experience with newborns. Jasper simply smiles and lifts his sweater sleeves, showing battle-scars on his arms. He regales Bella with stories of his human life as a major in the Texas army, fighting for the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Near Galveston he met a woman named Maria who was a vampire; looking to change others so they would be able to destroy Union soldiers in battle. Maria was dangerously clever and cautious. She made use of Jasper's power to control the emotions of others, and had him destroy the newborns before they had been a vampire for one year, in order to cover her tracks. But Jasper could feel all the emotions of every newborn he killed and realized that Maria didn't love him, but rather controlled him like a puppet. Finding Alice was what helped him escape and become free. She had seen a vision of him and gone to meet with him. Alice finds her way to them and she shares a passionate kiss with Jasper, and Bella smiles and politely turns her head away.Later that night Bella has a dream of Maria whispering something into Jasper's ear, gently coaxing him into killing someone. She sees this as if she were the one Maria was directing Jasper to kill. Just before Jasper lunges, Bella dreams that Maria suddenly has Victoria's face and voice. Awakening in her room, in Edward's arms, Bella says that the dream has given her the final piece of the puzzle. She realizes that Victoria is the mastermind behind the newborn army, and she is using a second-in-command to do all the dirty work, in order to evade being seen in Alice's visions.As if in answer, we see Riley in Seattle delivering another hapless recruit to Victoria.In the morning, outside the house, Edward is telling Bella that he will taking her to a hidden spot away from the battlefield. With the Quileute wolf pack fighting beside them, the Cullens will be able to handle the newborns, but Bella, as a human, will be too vulnerable. In the chaos of the battle, it would be too much risk of a newborn slipping past the defenders and reaching her. Bella argues that if she and Edward are too far apart, they will both be too worried about each other and both of them will be vulnerable. For once, Edward assents and agrees-- but instead of bringing her to the battlefield, he will go with her to stand guard over her at her hiding place.The two of them meet Jacob and Jasper on a field in a woodland clearing. Jasper has chosen this site for the battle to take place, believing it will provide them with a tactical advantage. Bella's scent must end at this field-- the newborns must be able to track her to it, but not past it. This means she must be carried to the campsite where Edward will be guarding her-- and Edward cannot carry her there because the newborns will still be able to pick up Bella's own scent. But Jacob, as a werewolf, has a scent that vampires find so repellent that it will mask Bella's trail effectively. The newborns won't smell Bella past the battlefield, only the smell of werewolf which they won't be able to stand. Edward doesn't like the idea but he won't question Jasper's knowledge on what will give them every edge they can get in the battle. Too much rides on it.Jacob and Bella talk as he carries her through the woods. Despite the tactical reasons for it, he's sardonic about Edward not being in the battle, but Bella won't try to talk Jacob into not being part of it. Bella knows Jacob would refuse to honor her wishes. Jacob mentions that as Billy's son he had the right to be the alpha wolf of the spirit warriors, but as he originally didn't even want to be one of the wolf-pack at all, he yielded the alpha position to Sam, and Sam feels Jacob will be needed on the battlefield. When Jacob remarks that every choice has its consequences, Bella knows he's referring to her becoming a vampire and asks him to let it rest-- everyone makes their decisions and she's made hers. Jake says he knows that Bella feels something for him; he can sense it about her... and that the Sam-Leah-Emily triangle is proof that she can love more than one person. Bella thinks Jacob is about to try and kiss her again. He just smiles and says he promised not to until she asked. Bella thinks he will have to wait a long time for that, but he thinks she's wrong.Back on the field, Edward is waiting. Jasper has followed Jacob and Bella partway to make sure the plan is working. Jasper tells Edward that he could only smell wolf, meaning Bella's trail has ended on the field as planned. Despite Jasper's assurances that the plan is working, Edward's reaction shows how much effort he has to exert to follow the plan. The thought of Jacob carrying Bella is too harsh for him.Bella is driving home. She finds Alice leaving her house, chatting pleasantly with Charlie-- she's charmed her way into his good graces. Out of Charlie's earshot, Alice tells Bella she's arranged a cover story; that the Cullens are going on a camping trip and Charlie has agreed to Bella having a sleepover with Alice so that Alice will have some company. In fact it is Edward who will be at the Cullen house with her, while Alice goes with the Cullens into the woods to hunt for animal blood so they will be ready for battle. Charlie is going fishing so Bella won't have to worry about him being concerned for her.Inside the house, Charlie confirms that unlike Edward, Alice meets with his approval. Bella asks her father why he never remarried after the divorce with Renee. She's looking to get his viewpoints on marriage to help with her own decision whether to marry Edward, although of course she doesn't tell him that. Charlie says he never really met the right woman for him after the divorce, but he sees value in marriage, pointing to Renee's happy marriage to Phil. He does, however, mention that it tends to work out better, later in life, not earlier as a result of 'not being careful.' This leads to a rather awkward chat about premarital sex (and whether Bella is still a virgin) that leaves both Charlie and Bella rather embarrassed.Bella arrives at the Cullen house for the 'sleepover.' Edward adds a small diamond to Bella's charm bracelet. Going up to his room, Bella sees he has brought a bed in for her to sleep on. Bringing up Edward's desire to marry her as a condition for changing her, Bella says she wants to negotiate her own condition, and gets Edward to promise her anything she desires. But then Bella starts to come on to him and he backs off, afraid of hurting her. Bella begs him to 'try,' because she wants him while she's still human. They start to kiss and make out, but when Bella starts to undress herself, and he sees that she wants to have sex, Edward again backs off. His "old school" values that Bella had assured Charlie that Edward has, start to assert themselves and he says that back during his days as a living mortal, he would have done things different, including a full courtship, and asking her father for her hand, before proposing. But as he speaks, he takes one knee and presents Bella with an engagement ring that belonged to his mother. He restates his request for Bella to marry him. Bella's heart is finally touched the right way and she says yes.On a secluded rooftop in the darkness over Seattle, another conversation, much more sinister, is taking place. Victoria is gently admonishing Riley not to underestimate the Cullens. Her "dead friend" (Laurent) is a testament to their powers-- Laurent learned about them and they killed him. Victoria sweetly tells Riley that this is the Cullen family's hunting grounds, and she is afraid of them retaliating against her for trying to slake her own thirst. Riley assures her he'll make the city safe for her, and they begin to kiss. Riley has fallen in love with Victoria and has bought her lies hook, line, and sinker. He clearly has no idea what her true motives are... he's become the Jasper to Victoria's Maria.The next day Bella and Edward are walking through the woods so she can 'mark' a trail leading to the field. Bella's pricked her finger so she can leave a drop of blood at intervals. She finds that Edward has gained the ability to resist the lure of her blood completely, brought about by when he thought Bella had died (back in New Moon). He notes she's not wearing the engagement ring and Bella says she doesn't want to lose it, but Edward knows she also doesn't want Jacob to see it. Bella gives in and says she feels they should wait to tell him. She wants his mind to be focused on the battle. Jacob arrives at that moment-- he'll be carrying Bella the rest of the way. Edward says that Alice has seen a storm coming, and Jacob says he can feel its approach.As Jacob carries Bella, a storm of a different kind also begins moving toward Forks; Riley is leading the newborn army through the woods and across a lake. Clearly he knows the land and how to get where the army needs to go.Jacob arrives with Bella at a small secluded plateau among the mountains, well defensible. Edward has a tent set up. Jacob reveals he will be staying the night at the campsite as well; in the morning, Seth will relieve him so that Edward and Bella can stay apprised of the battle through Seth's telepathic link to the pack. Seth wants in on the battle, but assisting Edward with guard duty over Bella will keep Seth out of trouble.Nighttime comes, the storm blows across the mountains and the temperature drops dangerously low. The tent, the sleeping bag and Bella's own winter clothing all prove inadequate, and she is shivering miserably with cold. Jacob enters the tent, having heard Bella's soft moans of discomfort. Edward realizes that Jacob intends to use his own 109-degree body heat to keep Bella warm, and is dead set against it. Jacob warns Edward that Bella is in danger of getting frostbitten. Edward's distrust for, and rivalry with, Jacob is so intense that it takes every iota of his will to assent to Jacob holding Bella, even for the purpose of keeping her warm.Edward and Jacob finally manage to speak civilly while Bella is asleep. They discuss their respective feelings for Bella. Jacob asks if Edward ever considered that Bella might love him as well, even if she wouldn't admit it to herself, and if Jacob could provide a good life for her. Edward insists he has tried to stop Bella from making him change her, and admits that he understands that Jacob can protect her as well as Edward can, and that Jacob can give Bella a human life. Jacob asks Edward how he coped with the belief that Bella had died and he'd lost her. Edward says he wouldn't wish it on anyone. Bella's greatest wish comes true as Edward finally admits he's glad Jacob is here. Edward and Jacob finally have found some measure of common ground.Morning comes. Seth arrives at the campsite so that Edward will know that Jacob has gone scouting and will return soon. As Seth leaves, Edward and Bella talk about the nighttime experience. Bella knows how hard it was for Edward to let Jacob do what he had to do; he says it's not on his list of favorite evenings. She's amused that Edward has a 'list' of his favorite evenings... at the top of the list, is, naturally, her accepting his proposal. He jokingly calls her Mrs. Cullen and she jokes back that in the 21st century, she has the right to choose whether to change her name.But it is no longer a joking matter when she finds that Jacob has returned and overheard that Bella is planning to marry Edward. She turns toward Edward, furiously angry when she realizes that Edward knew he was standing there. Edward simply says that Jacob deserved to know the truth. Jacob storms off and Bella starts to follow. Edward tries to grab her arm but she sternly warns him off.Bella rushes after Jacob, pleading to him as he curtly says he's off to kill some vampires-- and maybe let one of them kill him in turn. She begs him not to be reckless, and when he won't listen to her reason, she goes into a near-panic and asks him to kiss her. This he does, and they share a long, passionate kiss. Jacob says he has to go to the battlefield but he'll return. Bella realizes Edward knew what was going on-- he says Jacob's thoughts are very loud. Edward understands that Bella loves Jacob, but takes comfort in her assurance that she loves him more.Seth returns to the campsite, taking Jacob's place there so his telepathic link to the pack will keep Edward up to date on the battle.The Cullens stand on the battlefield, waiting as the newborn army rushes forward. On Jasper's signal, the Cullens rush forth into battle, luring the newborns to the rock outcropping behind which the Quileutes await. Led by Jasper, the Cullens and the Quileutes fight together with expert teamwork, allowing them to overwhelm the newborns who, despite greater numbers, fight blindly and recklessly. Victoria is seen observing the battle briefly before rushing off.Bree is the one newborn who is afraid and deeply uncertain about what she's been ordered to do. Seeing the newborns being decimated, she starts to run, only to be cornered by Carlisle and Esme (Elizabeth Reaser). The two look at each other, sensing Bree's terror and uncertainty.Back at the mountain camp, Edward realizes Victoria is near-- he can hear her thoughts. She had noticed Edward was not on the battlefield, and also knew that he wouldn't leave Bella's side, meaning once she found him, she'd find Bella. She's managed to track Edward to the campsite. Edward realizes Victoria is close, and not alone. He urges Seth to hide for ambush.Riley slowly walks out of the trees to confront Edward. Edward tries to reason with Riley, appealing to his logic, explaining Victoria's intent on avenging James and caring for nothing else, and she chose Riley to be her second in the newborn army only because Riley is a Forks native and knows the town and area well. Victoria arrives on the scene and pleads gently to Riley about her love for him and her warnings about Edward's mind tricks.Riley's desire for Victoria ultimately wins out over his logic.and he rushes to attack. Seth intercepts him and tears off his hand. Seeing the odds start to turn against her, Victoria begins to flee. Needing to keep her from escaping again, Edward calls out to her and taunts her about his killing James. She turns and glares as Edward goads her about her need to hurt him because of how he killed her lover and mate. Victoria starts to blaze with furious anger and she leaps at Edward in a rage. They fight and Edward throws her into a tree, which she begins to climb. Getting Bella to one side, Edward pushes the tree down and leaps at Victoria.Seth is distracted by the sound, and Riley kicks him viciously in the snout, knocking him unconscious. He joins the fight between Edward and Victoria, and turns the tide. Seeing Riley and Victoria working together and poised to kill Edward, Bella scrabbles desperately in the snow. She finds a rock with a sharp edge and, taking a page from Taha Aki's third wife, Bella lacerates her arm, letting her blood flow freely. Both vampires quickly smell her blood and are struck with blood frenzy, breaking their concentration and allowing Edward to turn the tide of the battle again. Seth recovers and seizes Riley, dragging him away. He cries desperately to Victoria, but she finally reveals her true nature and abandons him to try and feed on Bella, who stands before her unflinching. Edward intercepts Victoria and grapples with her. Outmaneuvering her, he rips her head off and kills her.Seth growls urgently and Edward notes that Alice needs them all on the battlefield. He burns Victoria's body and they rush to regroup with the Cullens and the Quileutes.Alice has seen the approach of Jane. As Edward, Bella and Seth arrive, Carlise urges the Quileutes to hurry away, because he knows the Volturi will not honor a truce with them.One newborn has survived and is lurking in ambush. Leah leaps on him, but this last newborn is tougher than his brethren. He is about to overpower Leah when Jacob joins the battle, but even then the newborn is able to maneuver around and grab Jacob from behind in a crushing bear hug that shatters the right side of his rib cage. The Quileutes finally finish the newborn off, but Jacob is badly injured, Leah cursing him for risking his life. The pack rushes to his side. Carlisle determines the extent of Jacob's injuries. He tells them that Jacob's wolf powers will allow his body to heal very rapidly, but because Carlisle cannot go with the Quileutes to treat Jacob immediately, this will cause his bones to begin to mend out of proper alignment-- this means when he arrives to treat Jacob, Carlisle must re-break them in order to set them properly. He promises to meet the pack at Billy's home as soon as possible. Quickly Jacob's tribe mates, all in human form now, gently lift him and carry him away.The Volturi arrive and survey the battlefield. Jane is only mildly impressed that the Cullens survived and that she and her underlings were not needed. She then notices Bree cowering behind the Cullens. Carlisle and Esme say they offered Bree asylum in exchange for her surrender, but Jane coldly states the Cullens had no asylum to offer. She torments Bree with terrible pain, interrogating her to learn about her creation. But Bree doesn't know who the leader of the newborn army was-- Riley trusted none of them with the knowledge. Edward slyly suggests that the Volturi knew about Victoria, but Carlisle insists that if they had known, they would have acted early and stopped her themselves. Carlisle and Esme vow to take responsibility for Bree, but Jane says the Volturi don't offer second chances-- the Cullens will be in enough trouble when Caius learns that Bella is still human. Bella quickly says, "a date has been set." Jane backs off from Bella but orders Felix to destroy Bree. Knowing that trying to protect Bree will bring the full wrath of the Volturi upon them, the Cullens resignedly step out of Felix's way, leaving the terrified Bree to her fate.Bella arrives at Billy Black's home to hear Jacob screaming in pain, which makes Billy shudder. Carlisle is re-breaking Jacob's ribs so that he can set them properly. Carlisle soon emerges from the house and says that Jacob is out of danger and will start to recover, and he'll return as necessary to help. A grateful Billy shakes Carlisle's hand as he would a friend's. Carlisle tells Bella that Jacob was asking for her.She goes into his room and they talk. Jacob knows that Bella has made her choice and he can no longer fight it. He is still struggling to accept the truth, and desperately wishes he could still change things, but he knows that he has lost the battle for Bella's heart. She asks if she can return to see him again. He says he will need time, but will wait for her-- even after her heart has stopped beating.Bella and Edward are in a meadow talking about the wedding. Edward is amused that Bella is letting Alice plan the whole affair out. He again questions her about her desire, and she explains that as much hardship as she's endured in Edward's world, she's never felt "normal" as other people define it, and only by making the world of the Cullens into her own world as well, has she felt a true sense of completeness. Remaining human was what she 'should be,' but joining the Cullens was who she truly 'was.' She jokingly tells Edward there is one more dangerous task ahead of them-- they have to tell Charlie about the wedding. Edward puts the engagement ring on her finger and they kiss passionately as the screen fades to black. | paranormal, revenge, murder, entertaining, flashback | train | imdb | I know nothing of the author however, I'm guessing she started writing this stuff when she was a twelve year old girl with delusions of what love should be.This entire movie is nothing more than a very poorly written romantic dilemma, wrapped in a weak premise of vampire and werewolves in an attempt to lure extra interest.
The bland and tedious characters lack chemistry, life, personality which sort of makes sense because most of them are undead.The film continues Bella's meaningless coin flip decision between Jacob the skin-walker (I refuse to refer to these as werewolves) and Edward the fairy.
They can't even articulate their lines let alone deliver them with any depth - not that there is any depth to the script or story here, there isn't.Even the fights are bland with vampires getting snapped apart like they were porcelain dolls and the only main threat of the movie - an army of New Born vampires - ending up being overcome with GREAT EASE.
Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson in no way sell that they are eternal arch enemies and Kristen Stewart is so uncharismatic and unable to connect to the character of Bella (I have read the books and they are far better).
Completely immersed underneath terrible acting, absolutely sloppy editing, gut-wrenching writing, mediocre directing, god awful story development, empty CGI and a go-nowhere-at-all story only meant to tug at the heart strings of pre-teens, "New Moon" was instantly put on the list of worst films I had ever seen in my life.
Alas, my OCD personality refuses to let me start a film series and walk away from it so it was inevitable that I hesitantly saw "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse".Almost immediately I realized that this film's atmosphere is a barricaded roundabout of re-hashed dialogue and one-track character directory.
Continuously talking about fighting for their love and no sex before marriage and preparing for battle but really doing nothing and "She loves me but she's too afraid to admit it" and "She loves me more but I'm not sure about myself." It's this childlike, empty conversation between characters with similarly empty, childlike personalities that makes the entire movie feel like a giant fantasy advertisement; an enormous, over dramatic, pre-teen wet dream.The characters are the second biggest issue with this film and even though in second place, it's by far the most irritating problem.
I do have to give credit to the film makers for putting enough effort into making the environment look much more attractive than the previous installments.Overall most of what made "New Moon" a total catastrophe has been worked on in "Eclipse" and it is indeed a better film than its predecessors.
The movie did try to stay true to the book as much as possible but I feel it still lacked what made the book great.The acting is definitely better over the last two.
The same expression on Robert's face throughout the entire movie, lame attempts from Kristen to act..At least they did a bit better with the make-up this time around.
"I know the consequences of the choices you're making." Edward to IsabellaAlthough more fight action is apparent in the change from the last sequel (New Moon, 2009), to the new Twilight Saga: Eclipse, it is a film in eclipse—the story is so slow as to make you feel drained of blood, Kristen Stewart (Bella) has even fewer expressions than in previous Twilights, Taylor Lautner (Jacob) seems to have gone from a six pack to a four, and Robert Pattinson (Edward) is less James Dean than when he never had a chance to be like him anyway.In other words, this slow tale of teenage vampires and werewolves in heat has too little heat, but rather is in its own twilight.
Actually I called that one "enjoyably overcooked." This one is underdone.Eclipse has an increased emphasis on teenage uncertainty: Bella must decide who she wants to be, human or vampire (a variation of the film's existential subtext), whether or not to marry Edward, and how much she loves Jacob, more specifically, can she love two boys at once.
I've always hated the twilight series, because its like a travesty to good vampire movies.
It's been billed as the biggest film of the year and perhaps it will be, but it has some stiff competition from the likes of Harry Potter coming this winter, so let's see if Eclipse really deserves that prestigious title.The vampire and werewolf love saga has been bitterly disappointing so far with a dull first instalment and a hideously depressing second.
Add to this some excruciatingly painful running times of over two hours and you have death by celluloid.But perhaps I'm being a little unfair; this third instalment has been based on perhaps the most exciting book of the four in the series so it already has a good starting point and some convincing performances from the actors really do make this film a huge leap ahead of what preceded it.The storyline to this film is pretty much non-existent but director David Slade does a good job of turning zilch into another depressing, but well made two hour love fest.
Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen), Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan) and Taylor Lautner (Jacob) return as the three main leads and their love triangle becomes even more confusing this time around, with frowning faces and awkward kisses galore.
Add to this an army of newborn vampires ready to rip the very flesh of Bella Swan's bones and it's getting pretty tense down in Forks.Sadly, even with a whole army of vampires and werewolves fighting in the finale, this small increase in action doesn't take away from the fact that the film drags in more than one place with blocks of dialogue that feel as if they're going to last a lifetime.
This shamefully vain dialogue with unnecessary close-ups of Robert Pattinson's face, Kristen Stewart's eyelashes and Taylor Lautner's chest are surely there just to appeal to the female fans and do nothing to progress the story.It is these main three characters that hinder the film; their stilted dialogue and mediocre acting overshadow the rest of the cast who are all superb.
Frankly, I'm not sure why they bother going to the Twilight films, when they already know they're going to trash it.This movie was designed for 1 purpose - to translate our favorite modern love story onto the silver screen; to visually fulfill our Twilight fantastical indulgent desires.
(I actually think the movie did a better job with this than the book did, I love Stephanie Meyer, by writing action sequences is not her forte) Does the movie do Eclipse's plot (the book) justice: YES!
Granted some things get simplified or left out for the sake of running time.Overall, I LOVED Eclipse, it was by far my favorite movie of the series (and book).
In Forks, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) proposes Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) that actually wants to become immortal and is divided between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner).
The script is poor, the director isn't exactly that interested to tell a story but to impress the females by showing highly emotional scenes between Bella and her "lovers" and finally, the actors are doing a great job in not doing anything at all.
Kristen Stewart (Bella) changes only two types of faces (just the same as before)and Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner (Edward and Jacob) are just being over reacting to play the "perfect guy", for the ladies watching this movie.
I understand watching the movie without reading the book, but I thought the story itself would help a viewer understand that Jacob's character should be angry.
plus, there are vampires in it !What I do enjoy from times to times - and I hope the series will last very long - is to watch a bunch of actors giving their best on that kind of movies.
I always loved resilient people and the fact that Kristen Stewart is a successful actress despite some serious narcoleptic issues (also called "dead fish eyes syndrome" by the University of Switzerland) is amazing, go get 'em girl !Out of fairness the Cullens, with collaborative efforts, steals some effectives scenes like "I'm walking as if I had my brain removed with a hammer" or "Look daddy !
i don't know if its the books that has written to to behave like this or if its the actor thats just so bad.the worst thing i hate about this film (and the rest for that matter) is how miserable bella always is.
I'm not really into the Twilight Saga, having only seen Twilight and now Eclipse.Five minutes into the movie I could see how boring it was going to turn out.The acting is still wooden and to be honest I think the actors don't get into their characters.
The second film was much more competently made, and had top notch direction, but suffered from a painfully boring script and hollow characters, and ended up being one of my most hated films of recent memory as a result.I was surprised to find that this entry was actually the best of the series thus far.
It didn't feel as vapid and lifeless as the first two entries.When the evil Victoria (the gorgeous Bryce Dallas Howard) begins creating an army of vicious "newborn" vampires to get revenge against Bella and the Cullens, Edward (Robert Pattinson) is forced to team up with his rival Jacob the werewolf (Taylor Laughtner), in order to protect his love Bella (Kristen Stewart).
And that's what I thought Twilight should have been like.I guess at the end of the day, you can never underestimate the power of marketing, both for the books and the movies, or the buying power of the average teenage girl..
Also I really don't like the cop-father what's his face, he reminds me of Deputy Doofy from scary movie.Im not even going to mention all the incorrect facts "Stephanie Meyer" writes about vampires, but it is tedious work to try to ignore while watching the movie.So in conclusion I urge everyone who's not a twelve-year old girl on acid, not to waste you precious time watching this movie.
It doesn't matter how many awards it has received or records it has broken, people who enjoy this and consider it to be a movie of the vampire genre are (no offense) retarded.Still it get's a 4 because I'm in generous mood and despite the fact that "Bella" looks like a junky she's kind of cute in a cancer kind of way:).
I've seen the first two movies of the Twilight Saga so I knew what I was expecting but far out this film was atrocious..bad acting, action scenes were terrible and the whole thing just stunk.
I guess if your'e a teenage girl aged 11-15 this would be suitable but for any adult this film should seriously be avoided..you can tell this is targeted at teen audiences that's for sure young attractive cast, emo love story gone wrong e.t.c, I was left feeling like I just wasted 124 mins of my life the dialogue lacked enthusiasm and half the time the actors just looked like they just didn't want to be in the movie.
There are legions of ardent fans of this Twilight Saga - this third installment is ECLIPSE - and they obviously have their reasons for loving both the books and the movies.
Even if one can buy into the fairytale atmosphere of flatline normal human girl Bella (Kristen Stewart) falling for rather stiff and distant and oh so proper vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson, who has proved in his other films 'Remember Me' and 'Little Ashes' that he actually CAN act) while at the same time falling in love with werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner, ever more buff and using his physique to great advantage in almost every scene), there are problems with the story for the casual viewer who hasn't read the Twilight Saga or followed the previous films.
Not being a teenager anymore I have a hard time seeing the attraction but, like I said, I can understand why these movies and books are so popular.After seeing The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and what Jacob (Taylor Lautner) has done to himself, it is not difficult to understand why these movies are popular with mature women all over the world as well.
It can actually get quite frustrating.The teenage-focused love scenes, and the at-length discussions between Jacob and Edward about who gets Bella (like she is some sort of mannequin for sale at a store), really make the movie drag.
It doesn't improve upon anything and seems to be entirely built around vacant expressions, bland dialogue and Kristen Stewart walking around looking "worried" (I guess thats her range, emo and worried) I still don't see this epic love between Edward and Bella, they seem to go around each other like they still don't know quite how to act and are very awkward and lack chemistry.
Everything else is about boring as a Twilight film can be, not really really adding any level of dimension to the characters.In short, good for the tweens (at least it gets them reading) but bad for anyone who expects anything resembling vampire lore.
It's a movie (soap) about Jacob, Bella, and Edward, with all the rest of the cast acting as cardboard fillers.If you really want to see what happens in the third chapter of this saga, save your money and rent it.
Instead after the first few boring scenes it kicked up (unlike in the other two) and we actually got more than 2 minutes of action.The acting was better, but Bella and Edward both returned to their comatose state on screen while Jacob and the wolf tribe keep the life in the movie.
Okay,so I didn't read all the books, I'm not obsessive fan, but I really liked the first movie, cause it' a love story with vampires.
Yeah, when I was 15 i wanted love like that, what Bella and Edward have it's amazing, but that's just a story.
Keep it in mind when you're watching this, the main thing in this movie is all about the love triangle between Bella, Edward and Jacob.
And, when I saw it, I feel like it's going to be a very boring film which deserves a one-star rating.The acting was bad.
Speaking of brutal, I say "Eclipse" has the deadliest, most brutal scenes in "The Twilight Saga".By the way, a contributing factor to this movie is that it has many flashbacks or memories of the characters that also skip the fighting parts of it.
They look like crystals or something as there were scenes showing hands or heads decapitated and they look like shiny crystals."The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" is another slow movie which always and always focuses on that love triangle.
Unfortunately I was roped into taking my sisters to this and New Moon (and saw the first movie as they watched the DVD over and over.) After the first two movies I was actually a little surprised by this one; sure there is still the terrible acting, the average special effects and the sappy "love" story (seriously, when is Edward going to fess up to Bella that he's really gay and that's why he won't 'seal the deal'?).I was able to get past what I knew was coming and find some enjoyment in the slightly dark tinge this movie added with Victoria and her army.
I know we're silly little girls, but that doesn't mean you have to treat us like silly little girls that can't tell a good movie (New Moon) from a rush job (Eclipse).
And he knows how to even get some cool action going on, once or twice at least, such as in the big climax where the wolves, looking less ridiculous than the last film, attacking the 'bad' vampires out to get Bella.
Now Jacob you know all the girls love you, you don't need Bella I seen plenty of other fine girls in the Twilight movies, Holla at one of them.
Although I was bored and really didn't like the Twilight movies, all I have to say to Edward, Jacob, and Bella is, "at least you got paid." So good job!!!!!
Most of it, this proves the best how to alienate teenagers so early, making 12 y.o. kids going out of the theaters with the books under their arms like a bible thinking about sex symbols and perfect bodies and with no sense at all of what's good or what's bad for them, because if you tell just one of them that this is the worst movie series ever they can spit right in your face and call you a sh*t.
I saw new moon and twilight and i have to admit i feel ashamed to admit it but i like some scenes of these movies (love scenes, i am a girl after all).
I don't want to spoil the movie, but it seems like it's the same crap as Twilight, and New Moon.
If you've read the book Eclipse you'd better understand the story and progression that each character makes as well as the overall decision between Jake & Edward.It seems like they cut & pasted parts together without any real flow and called it a movie.
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) OMG the best movie, say no one EVER -_-
Another awful movie about this "thing" at least this was a little entertaining and I didn't fell asleep like a almost did in "New Moon" but that doesn't make it a good film, is horrible, the direction, the effects are bad and PLEASE those hair style COME ON, are you kidding me?
I have never been so disappointed in my life, I went into Eclipse expecting a really bad movie like New Moon and it turned out to be much better than I expected. |
tt0070294 | The Legend of Hell House | Physicist Lionel Barrett is enlisted by an eccentric millionaire, Mr. Deutsch, to make an investigation into "survival after death" in "the one place where it has yet to be refuted". This is the Belasco House, the "Mount Everest of haunted houses", originally owned by the notorious "Roaring Giant" Emeric Belasco, a six-foot-five perverted millionaire and supposed murderer, who disappeared soon after a massacre at his home. The house is believed to be haunted by numerous spirits, the victims of Belasco's twisted and sadistic desires.
Accompanying Barrett are his wife, Ann, as well as two mediums: a mental medium and Spiritualist minister, Florence Tanner, and a physical medium, Ben Fischer, who is the only survivor of an investigation 20 years previously. The rationalist Barrett is rudely sceptical of Tanner's belief in "surviving personalities", spirits which haunt the physical world, and he asserts that there is nothing but unfocused electromagnetic energy in the house. Barrett brings a machine he has developed, which he believes will rid the house of this energy.
Though not a physical medium, Tanner begins to manifest physical phenomena inside the house. When, after a quarrel with Tanner, Barrett is attacked by invisible forces, he suspects that Tanner may be using the house's energy against him. Meanwhile, Fischer remains aloof, with his mind closed to the house's influence, and is only there to collect the generous paycheck.
Ann Barrett is subjected to erotic visions late at night, which seem linked to her lackluster sex life. She goes downstairs and, in an apparent trance, disrobes and demands sex from Fischer. He strikes her, snapping her out of the trance, and she returns to herself, horrified and ashamed. A second incident occurs a day or so later; this time, she is awake but uninhibited due to alcohol. Her husband arrives a moment later to witness her advances to Fischer. He is resentful, and spurns Fischer's psychic ability, claiming that "Mr. Deutsch is wasting one-third of his money!" Stricken by the accusation, Fischer drops his psychic shields but is immediately attacked.
Tanner is convinced that one of the "surviving personalities" is Belasco's tormented son, Daniel, and she is determined to prove it at all costs. She finds a human skeleton chained behind a wall. Believing it to be Daniel, Tanner and Fischer bury the body outside the house and Tanner performs a funeral. Nevertheless, Daniel's "personality" continues to haunt Tanner; she is scratched violently by a possessed cat. Barrett suspects that Tanner is mutilating herself. In an attempt to put Daniel to rest, Tanner gives herself to the entity sexually, but the entity brutalizes her.
Barrett's machine is assembled. Tanner attempts to destroy it, thinking that it will harm the spirits in the house, but Barrett prevents her from doing damage. She enters the chapel, "the unholy heart" of the house, in an attempt to warn the spirits, but she is crushed by a falling crucifix. As she dies, she leaves a symbol written in her own blood. Barrett activates his machine, which seems to be effective. Fischer wanders the house afterwards, attempting to sense psychic energy; he declares the place "completely clear!" in astonishment. Violent psychic activity soon resumes and Barrett is killed.
Fischer decides to confront the house, and Ann accompanies him despite her misgivings. Deciphering Tanner's dying clue, Fischer deduces that Belasco is the sole entity haunting the house, masquerading as many. He taunts Belasco, declaring him a "son of a whore", and that he was no "roaring giant", but likely a "funny little dried-up bastard" who fooled everyone about his alleged height. Even as objects begin to hurl themselves at Fischer, he continues to defy the entity, until all becomes still. A stained glass partition in the chapel shatters, revealing a hidden door.
Fischer and Ann discover a lead-lined room, containing Belasco's preserved body seated in a chair. Pulling out a pocketknife, Fischer rips open Belasco's trouser leg, discovering his final secret: a pair of prosthetic legs. Fischer realises Belasco had had his own stunted legs amputated, and used the prosthetics in a grotesque attempt to appear imposing. Belasco had the specially built room lined with lead, presaging the discovery of the electromagnetic nature of life after death.
With the room now open, Fischer activates Barrett's machine a second time, and he and Ann leave the house, hoping that Barrett and Tanner will guide Belasco to the afterlife without fear. | boring, gothic, paranormal, haunting, good versus evil, sadist | train | wikipedia | And it works very well.One of the all time best haunted house movies ever, this one is definitely worth buying.
The Legend of Hell House is one these exceptions 'cause it really serves up some decent scares and maintains a very creepy atmosphere throughout.The plot is similar to The Haunting.
Needless to say the house is indeed very haunted and pretty soon these people are fighting for their lives.Featuring excellent performances by all, first rate direction and production values, a solid script; The Legend of Hell House is really a first rate horror film in most respects..
The wealthy Mr. Rudolph Deutsch (Roland Culver) promises a small fortune to the physicist Dr. Lionel Barrett (Clive Revill); to the mental medium Florence Tanner (Pamela Franklin); and to the physical parapsychologist Benjamin Franklin Fischer (Roddy McDowall) to investigate survival after death in the notorious Belasco House, a.k.a. Hell House.
"The Legend of Hell House" is a creepy and atmospheric horror movie with a good story of haunted house.
Four psychic investigators (Roddy McDowall, Pamela Franklin, Clive Revill, Gayle Hunnicutt) are to spend a week in the Mount Everest of haunted houses to see if life does exist after death.
"Legend Of Hell House" is everything that turkeys like "The Haunting" tried to be.Kudos to everyone in the cast, especially Roddy McDowall as Fisher, the only man to survive a previous expedition.There is also some interesting dialogue regarding combatting the supernatural with science, a topic that popped up in later films such as "Ghostbusters."MANY horror movies have been made on much larger budgets than Legend Of Hell House, but very few can match it for pure psychological terror.
This eerie movie starts when a multi-millionaire enlists a team of subjects formed by a medium (Pamela Franklyn) and parapsychologist scientists (Clive Revill , his wife Gayle Hunnicutt and Roddy McDowall) to stay for a study and resolve weird deeds into his newly acquired house .
Beginning in television series (Avengers, Protectors) , making Hammer films (Twins of Evil) , Adventures (Island treasure, Black arrow) , wholesome Disney fare (Return and escape to witch mountain) , regency romantic drama (Duel of hearts , Ghost in Montecarlo , Hazard of hearts , The lady and the highwayman) and Horror movies (Howling , American Gothic , Bad karma) and his best film , Legend of Hell House .
John Hough directed this adaptation of the Richard Matheson novel about four people; a physicist named Dr. Barrett(Clive Revill) his wife Ann(Gayle Hunnicutt) Florence Tanner(Pamela Franklin) and Benjamin Fischer(Roddy McDowall) sole survivor from the previous expedition.
Dr. Barrett does not believe in the supernatural at all, and has brought with him scientific equipment to cleanse the home of the negative residual energy, but not everything is as he believes, and not all of them will leave the house alive...Effective and scary film creates a real atmospheric mood of dread, with good direction and acting.
The direction is tight, the cast work exceptionally well to bear out the interpersonal conflicts before the final battle against the paranormal kills or defines them?Working well as a haunted house spooker of some considerable substance, and intelligent and interesting with its themes of paranormal psychology and investigation of such, The Legend of Hell House is a classical supernatural thriller.
By far the scariest movie I have EVER seen, bar none; the synthesized "score" just creeps me to the bone every time, VERY effective, much more than a "music" score would have been; totally ahead of its time in 1973.I first saw it around age 15, now at 41 I STILL have to look away from the screen during the "ectoplasm" scene ("leave a sah-mple in the jah, please") -- but over the last quarter century I've worked up to where I can watch the rest of the flick without flinching (too much).Roddy McDowall is brilliant, as is Pamela Franklin.Yeah, the ending is a bit hokey, but everything else more than makes up for it.
Easily the best of all haunted house movies, this movie has a good story, surprise twists, a good cast (including the gorgeous Pamela Franklin), and most importantly - a high visual quality and atmosphere without which almost any horror film is doomed.
This movie is full of things like that which makes it a classic in my book.Rich multi-millionaire Rudolph Deutsch (Roland Culver) hires Lionel Barrett and his wife (Clive Revill & Gayle Hunnicutt) to investigate the hauntings that are taking place at the notorious Belasco manor.
Barrett takes along Benjamin Fisher (Roddy McDowell) and Florence Tanner (Pamela Franklin) as mediums to flesh out the spirits and find out how to dispel them from the property.What THE HAUNTING was for the 60s, and POLTERGEIST was for the 80s, THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE is what I consider one of the definitive ghost stories (it ties with THE CHANGELING) of the 1970s.
I liked this one, it reminded me of "Burnt Offerings" a little bit with the creepy house story and the acting was amazing, especially Roddy McDowell in his strange demented character.
Mrs Tanner is convinced that the evil spirit belongs not to Belasco but his son Daniel.This film has great use of suspense and should not be missed by any horror fan.The acting: The performances are great but Roddy McDowall's performance is outstanding.
These elements form a thrilling experience while showing the importance of shadow and darkness for this media !In a short: Good story, excellent cinematography and interesting use of light make "the legend of hell house" a fine example for well done horror.
Unfortunately TLOHH seem to have been left behind a bit compared to The Haunting (there's not even a remake!!).I am bringing the movie up as I've just finished reading the book and was impressed by how much the movie stayed true to it (well I believe Richard Matheson also wrote the screenplay which would explain a lot).The premise is very similar to The Haunting...a scientist, his wife, and two pychics go to investigate the possibility of ghosts at the bequest of an aging millionaire who wants to know if there is life after death.
It probably means I should see it, too...Anyhow, on to The Legend of Hell House, which I HAVE seen, and which I absolutely love (which makes me wonder how in Sam Hill any movie could be better).
Now, let's look at what makes Hell House so darn good...1) Every actor and actress in this film puts in a solid performance, and therefore every character has an appropriate effect on the audience.
It is the best of its kind, better than "The Haunting" (I'll probably get guff for that remark, but I don't care).John Hough better established a dark and utterly cold atmosphere for the house in this film.
And Richard Matheson, I think, did a better job on the screenplay for this film than his original novel "Hell House" (which is a rareity).The actors all performed excellently as well.
Each shot of her batting away the evil stuffed cat toy (obviously hurled haphazardly at her by a stage-hand off-screen) is followed by a scene of a real cat hissing at the camera from the floor.This sequence, in addition to the fulsome, pedantic "scientific" explanations of the paranormal and an inexplicably massive ghost-killer machine (that looks more like one of those ice-boxes outside convenient stores), makes this movie a complete howl.The secret to the film is obvious: Hell House is haunted by Merry Maids, Inc. Notice how the house gets cleaner--dust bunnies and spider webs disappearing left and right--as the film progresses.The film definitely would have been livened up by an unmanned Hoover chase or two.Saved by fine, earnest performances, especially from the Dowall(as always).
This is a very different type of 'haunted house' movie with an excellent cast including Roddy McDowall and Clive Revill.
THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE Aspect ratio: 1.85:1Sound format: MonoA group of psychic researchers are hired by a wealthy invalid (Roland Culver) to prove the theory of life after death by spending time in Belasco Mansion - 'the Mt. Everest of haunted houses' - but their investigation prompts a series of violent supernatural manifestations.Scripted by Richard Matheson from his novel 'Hell House', and produced at a time when Hammer's influence on the horror genre was being challenged by a new breed of spine-chillers emerging from the US and mainland Europe - spearheaded, of course, by THE EXORCIST (1973) and "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974) - THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE employs the familiar trappings of Gothic melodrama - it's set mostly in a fog-shrouded country mansion - but takes a very modern, scientific approach to its subject.The film's potency has been diluted over time, but individual scenes are as vivid as ever: The first 'sitting', in which medium Pamela Franklin (cast in tribute to her appearance in THE INNOCENTS [1961]) becomes possessed by a former occupant of the house; the all-out supernatural assault on scientist Clive Revill as he sits at the dining-room table; and the unforgettable moment when Franklin pulls the covers from a writhing figure on her bed to reveal...
THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE is one of those movie with everything going for it: fascinating story, believable acting, some good fx and some truly spooky scenes peppered here and there.
Here the expedition is led by a skeptic, Dr. Barrett (Clive Revill), who believes that "hauntings" are manifestations of residual energy rather than of surviving personalities--and who considers the Belasco house an ideal opportunity to put his theory to a practical test.He is accompanied by his wife Ann (Gayle Hunnicutt) and two mediums: Benjamin Fischer (Roddy McDowall), who has the distinction of being one of the few individuals to have previously visited Belasco House and lived to tell about it, and Christian spiritualist Florence Tanner (Pamela Franklin), who soon clashes with Dr. Barrett over his skepticism.
And although Dr. Barrett has meticulously planned this investigation into Belasco House, from the moment the party enters the doors nothing turns out the way any of them expect.The great thing about the film is Pamela Franklin, who was one of the most interesting actresses of the 1960s and early 1970s, first making her mark as a child in the memorable thriller THE INNOCENTS and then giving a devastating turn as one of her teacher's pets in THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE.
Perversely, it also suffers from a determination to explain away everything it can, and the result is often somewhat anti-climatic.Due to Franklin's performance and McDowell's strong support, THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE will likely satisfy viewers who prefer their ghost stories strong on atmosphere and psychology.
Most notable is Roddy McDowall as an initially creepy, nerdy and seemingly mentally damaged physical medium who gradually hits notes of sympathy and turns out to be the unexpected hero of the piece.It packs a lot into it running time, does HELL HOUSE, and doesn't rely on buckets of gore or cheap jump-scares for its thrills and chills, instead managing to be quietly and insidiously unnerving – setting up an intriguing scenario populated by flawed and believable individuals.
Fischer (McDowall) has been here before – the only survivor of the last "expedition" to the Belasco House – and has no intention of letting his guard down, mentally shutting himself off and with a plan to just wait it out and collect the dough come payday.Ghostly manifestations, possessions and violent poltergeist activity kick in early on, and the house itself seems to have a personality of its own – with a deadly agenda to boot.If you've read Matheson's book, you'll perhaps find the movie version tame and watered down – the sexual elements and depravity factor de-intensified to a much lower setting.
Four Psychic Investigators (The late Roddy McDowall, Gayle Hunnicutt, Clive Revill and Pamela Franklin) are hired by an eccentric millionaire Mr. Deutsch (The late Ronald Culver) to investigate "The Mt. Everest of haunted houses", It's the Legend of Hell House at the Belasco residence.
One of the best haunted house films, sure its a bit dated but so are many of the classic horror films, it also manages to get good few scares in as well considering when it was made.
They consist of scientist Dr. Barrett (Clive Revill), mental medium Florence Tanner (Pamela Franklin), Dr. Barretts' tag along wife Ann (Gayle Hunnicutt), and physical medium Benjamin Franklin Fischer (Roddy McDowall), the only person to survive previous investigations of Hell House.Richard Matheson scripted, from his own novel "Hell House".
It looks beautiful.Atmospheric as Hell!Creepy-@ss Scary...Absolutely LOVELY cinematography.Effective, taut direction.Excellent acting.Very beautiful lighting and set design.And, the soundtrack REALLY helps rack up the tension.If you like Supernatural Retro-Horror films, especially effective ones about Haunted Houses, and ones that are taken DEAD seriously...
Brilliant haunted house movie directed by John Hough and penned by the great Richard Matheson, who adapted his own novel for the screenplay.
It makes zero sense.On the other hand, as I said, there are many things to like about "Hell house": it's never boring, the acting all around is competent -although I kept asking myself if Roddy McDowall was wearing a bad wig or not- and, specially, British director John Hough managed to infuse it with a great deal of atmosphere.
Here, dying millionaire Deutsch (Roland Culver) sends the team off to ascertain if there really is such a thing as "survival after death." The team consists of a physicist, Lionel Barrett (Clive Revill), who is accompanied by his beautiful wife, Anne (Gayle Hunnicutt); a mental medium, Florence Tanner (former child actress Pamela Franklin, top billed here); and a physical medium, Ben Fischer, the only survivor of a previous Hell House investigation (Roddy McDowall).
Roddy McDowall heads the cast of this extremely creepy chiller about four psychic investigators and the dark,brooding mansion called Hell House.It's already destroyed one team of researchers.Now this brave quartet ventures in for another try at unraveling its ghastly secret.With a screenplay by Richard Matheson,adapting his own novel "Hell House","The Legend of Hell House" is a very creepy piece of horror that contains enough shocks and surprises for the dedicated horror buffs.The film has strong characters and a compelling story.The acting is excellent and the atmosphere of dread and fear is simply overwhelming.The house itself is a truly scary place filled with dark shadows,creepy corridors and spider webs."The Legend of Hell House" contains almost no gore,but it scared the hell out of me.Highly recommended.10 out of 10..
With what I knew from having read the book, I could blend my thoughts in with what I saw, giving me a pretty darned good movie viewing experience.The story itself had me scared out of my wits, what with the atmosphere, the characters with their external and internal conflicts, the subtlety, meaning that special effects were at a minimum, and fabulous acting.
Like I say, I think this is a very good (if not one of the best) haunted house films ever.
This movie probably won't terrify you, but as a haunted house story, it is pretty good, and technically well done.
The cast is also universally excellent, Roddy Mcdowell is very good as the only survivor of a previous stay in the house, Pamela Franklin is also great as the young medium.The Legend of Hell House almost has too much action.
I first saw this film as a teenager and its always been one of those ghost films that sticks in the mind.Its only ever been shown on UK TV very late at night,and this is probably why so many people have never seen it.Made in 1973 and apart from the actors clothes the film hasn't dated at all,its still as atmospheric and creepy as ever.And because the film is done in a diary form from day to day it makes the film more realistic.I was lucky enough to find it on DVD yesterday in a second hand shop so there must be other copies out there.I watched it last night and found it was just as good as i remembered it to be,the DVD is of good quality, and it only cost me £2.The film is also quite ahead of its time as in this era paranormal investigation programmes are at their height in popularity,when you have programmes like Most Haunted,Ghost Hunters,Dead Famous,etc,this film was made long before any of these programmes were thought of,and sort of paves the way for things to come,well apart from the horror aspect of it.When i was watching this film last night i had to laugh to myself,as i was wondering if the Most Haunted Team would ever stay in a place like that.
The Legend of Hell House remains true to Richard Matheson's horror ghost novel and captures the eerie, background tension and the creepy sound track lends riveting and haunting mystery surrounding the Bolasco House.
Another piece of horror that l'd watch in 1984 and l still remembered how spooky it's was,so after a long waiting this movie come out officially on DVD and unfortunately no bonus material,at least with a classic dubbed version,the script mix up Horror,Sci-fi and thriller,well in advance the famous Poltergeist we'd The Legend of Hell House,All four main characters are fantastic in their roles especially Pamela Frank and Clive Revill!!
From the gloriously overdone fog to the exaggerated screaming, everything about this film was designed to accentuate everything that is good about this type of movie.Hell House is set in a haunted mansion/castle, with 4 intrepid investigators attempting to solve the mystery of the building's history and rid the place of all evil spirits.
As a sort of dying wish, an old and wealthy man hires a scientist (Clive Revill), his wife (Gayle Hunnicutt), and two paranormal investigators to spend a week in Belasco House and determine if there is such a thing as life after death, and if the rumors of spiritual hauntings in the house are true.The film's star is likely Roddy McDowall, who plays investigator Benjamin Franklin Fischer. |
tt0384537 | Silent Hill | "SHARON! Where are you?" We first hear Rose DaSilva (Radha Mitchell) shouting these words as she and her husband Chris (Sean Bean) search for their daughter Sharon in the middle of the night. Rose runs beneath a highway through some kind of river and finds herself standing over a gigantic waterfall. She sees Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) standing on the other side in a trance (she sleepwalks). We see from Sharon's point of view the world literally falling apart and becoming some kind of hell (think the Hell LA sequences in Constantine). Just before Sharon sleepwalks off the cliff, Rose gets to her and wakes her up, where she starts screaming, "Silent Hill! Silent Hill!" over and over. Chris arrives and reassures his wife and daughter, although it's obvious both him and Rose know it's far from alright.Two years later. Sharon is leaning against a tree and coloring in a picture of herself and a lion near the tree. Rose comes up and her and Sharon play around a bit. She then tells Sharon about her sleepwalks and how she keeps mentioning Silent Hill. Sharon says that she doesn't remember, but Rose replies with, "That's why we're going there...so you can remember." They leave and head out, passing a sign that basically says angels shall be judged by saints -- people -- and not the other way around. Meanwhile, we see Chris trying to contact his wife, who is continually ignoring his calls (apparently this trip was not made to include him). He begins looking at some of the websites Sharon pulled up on Silent Hill, and he learns that it is located in West Virginia, is considered one of the most haunted towns in America, and that 30 years ago, there was a large underground fire that pretty much killed everyone there.That night, Sharon and Rose pull into Braham's Gas Station, which is within spitting distance of Silent Hill. As she gets out, Rose notices Sharon's pictures and sees that they've been changed to show people burning in various buildings, like a church or a school. Sharon wakes up and Rose asks her about them, but Sharon starts crying and swears she didn't do them, which a nearby female police officer takes notice of. Rose placates Sharon by saying she can ride up front with her, and then goes inside to pay. The cop comes over and tries to talk to Sharon, but Sharon just rolls up the window and ignores her, saying she never talks to strangers. The cop just smiles and says, "Good girl." Inside, Rose tries to get directions to Silent Hill but is told that the road is closed and her credit card has been declined. She pays cash and then calls Chris. He tells her what he found out, but she just asks him to trust her. Rose heads back to the car, and the cop tries to talk with her, but Rose waves her off and drives away... but not before the cop gets her license plate number.A little while later, we see Rose and Sharon approaching the Silent Hill turnoff when they get pulled over by the cop from before. She approaches the vehicle just as Rose notices a sign indicating the turnoff is right ahead. She tells Sharon to buckle her seatbelt and speeds off. The cop gets on her motorbike and gives chase. Sharon crashes through a padlocked gate and crosses an old bridge, managing to lose the cop at some point. She keeps heading forward at seventy and rounds a curve just as we see someone step into the road. Sharon warns her and the two girls scream as Rose swerves the car and they crash into the embankment.The next morning, Rose wakes up with a big bump on her head. She looks around groggily and suddenly notices that Sharon has disappeared. She gets out of the car and begins calling for her as she notices that snow has begun falling... black snow made of ash. She passes a sign that says "Welcome to Silent Hill" and heads into town, utterly lost and disoriented. She wanders the streets calling for Sharon, and suddenly sees a little girl who looks exactly like Sharon running off. Rose gives chase and eventually ends up atop some stairway leading down below street level. She starts descending just as an air raid siren begins sounding from somewhere. Things grow unbelievably dark, and Sharon takes out a lighter. She turns it on and sees that she is now standing atop some grated floor with falling apart walls and... basically it's the same hell world Sharon saw earlier. She wanders around trying to get her bearings and trips over a wheelchair. She stumbles upon an undead guy who has been strung up and gutted, and then she catches another glimpse of the Sharon lookalike. She runs after her but finds a chain-link fence between her and the girl. She turns around and then finds a bunch of gray ghost children behind her. One of them gives a banshee-sized wail and begins attacking her, but she gets it off just in time for a hundred or so more to come up. She runs past them and manages to find a door. The children overwhelm her and she gets the door open. She crawls away and screams, but----she wakes up in some abandoned bowling alley where "Ring of Fire" is playing on the jukebox. She looks around, but the gray children are nowhere in sight, and if it weren't for her obvious wounds, it could almost be a dream or hallucination. She runs out of the bowling alley and heads down a street, trying to find someone, but is stopped by an enormous chasm that seems to have simply cut off Silent Hill from the world, even cutting through buildings halfway. She leans over to look down, and then someone behind her says, "Only the dark one opens and closes the door to Silent Hill." She turns and sees a dishevelled and dirty homeless woman there. She approaches the woman, Dahlia Gillespie (Deborah Kara Unger), and asks what's going on and tells her about Sharon, but Dahlia just says "We've all lost our children." When Rose gets more cryptic comments, she pulls out a locket picture of Sharon. Dahlia freaks and claims that the picture is of her daughter. She tries to attack Rose, but Rose hits her and runs away as Dahlia says, "Deep in the fires, she will be buried."At this point we cut back to Braham's gas and see Chris pulling up. He gets out and asks the station mechanic (Ron Gabriel) if he's seen his wife, but the mechanic claims not to know anything, even when Chris offers a bribe and shows him a picture.Back in town, we see Rose heading back to the car. She sees a picture of Sharon's blowing on the ground and sees it is of a school. She goes through some other pictures and realizes they're of places around Silent hill. She gets in the car and calls Chris's cell phone. Chris picks up, but all he hears is static. Regardless, Rose says what happened and tells Chris that she is heading for the school. She tries to start the car but is interrupted by the cop, who tells her to get out of the car.Meanwhile, we see Chris pull up to the bridge, but it is blocked by police. He says that he is Rose's husband and gets through. At the other end of the bridge, he meets detective Thomas Gucci (Kim Coates) and tells him what he's doing there. Gucci tells him that he understands and that he's got an officer on the other side of the fallen trees blocking the road. A deputy named Cybill Bennet (Laurie Holden), who apparently did something famous with a young boy three years ago in that town, and she's probably got Rose in good condition.Meanwhile, we see exactly what condition Officer Cybill has Rose in handcuffs. Rose is trying to tell her that something is wrong in town, but Cybill is ignoring her and tells her how three years ago she tracked some sick guy into town who went into the mines with a little boy. She rescued the kid and spent three days trapped in there before someone could rescue them. They get back to Cybill's overturned police motorcycle and Cybill tries to radio in, but gets nothing but static. Rose tries again, but instead is forced to march with Cybill to.... another chasm. Rose yells at Cybill about not believing her just as something comes out of the mountains that looks like a person. Cybill takes out her gun and yells at it to halt, but it keeps coming, and we see that it has no arms and gray skin (Michael Cota). It spits some kind of acid at Cybill, who takes it on the jacket and helmet. She rips them off, dodges another round, and shoots the Spitter five times before it goes down. Rose seizes the opportunity and runs back into town, still in handcuffs but now with a clear destination. She finds a map of town on a corner lamppost and eventually makes her way to Midwich Elementary School, whose motto above the school door reads, "The foes of the righteous shall be damned to suffer" or something like that. Rose finds the main office and grabs a set of keys to every door and drawer in the school. She also uses the keys to get a flashlight out of one drawer, which thankfully works.At this point we check back in with Chris, who is being driven around a bright, fogless, and snowless Silent Hill by Gucci. Gucci is on the P.A. system and is telling Rose to come out. Chris thinks she might respond more to his voice, but Gucci vetoes that, telling him that when a woman steals off in the middle of the night with her daughter, hearing her husband tell her to come out is not something that usually gets them to come out. Meanwhile, we see Rose searching the school when she hears something coming upstairs from the basement. She opens a door and softly calls out and sees a pair of very imposing men -- the miners -- come out. She runs off and eventually ends up in a classroom. She finds a desk with witch carved into it and looks inside. She finds the journal of Alessa Gillespie, and we see a scene of the young girl who looks like Sharon being mocked by her classmates for apparently being the daughter of a witch. Suddenly Rose sees either Alessa or Sharon running past and follows her into a bathroom. Inside, Rose hears the sounds of a little girl crying and figures out which stall it's coming from. She opens the stall but instead of Alessa or Sharon finds a dead naked janitor with dog tags identifying him as "Colin" being held up by barbwire in a contorted position. The wall behind him reads "Dare you dare you double dare you!" and we see an arrow pointing into Colin's mouth. Rose sees something sticking out and reaches through the barbwire to pull out a hotel key -- the Grand Hotel, Room 111. She runs away from Colin and opens the door just in time to be caught by one of the miners' lights. She slams the door shut as three of them head for the door. Rose locks it with her key set just in time for a canary the miners had to start flapping around wildly. The miners look at each other and bolt.Right after the miners retreat the same siren goes off, and Rose looks around her as the walls literally start melting and changing back into the Hell version of things. Just as things finish changing, Colin wakes up and starts coming towards Rose. He pulls himself along the walls and somehow creates a horde of giant cockroaches with human faces, which chase Rose out the door and down the hallway. The bugs find the miners and take them down, and Rose runs faster. Unfortunately, while she's running, she gets blocked by a giant of a man with a pyramid helmet for a head. He swings his massive knife at her (it's about ten feet long and two feet wide) and runs, crossing some in-school bridge. He catches up and knocks her out a window, and she falls two stories to the ground. She runs to the other side of school, into another wing, and eventually collapses by a bank of lockers.We then cut to Chris, who is apparently searching the school with Detective Gucci in broad daylight, and it looks just fine. Gucci tries to placate him a little, but Chris isn't having any of it. Suddenly, they pass the locker bank where on the other side Rose is lying in a heap, and Chris swears to Gucci that he can feel her and smell her perfume, though Gucci just ignores this and keeps Chris moving.Meanwhile, Rose is still crying when we see someone come up and start dragging her somewhere. Eventually Rose ends up in a boiler room where we see that her abductor is... Cybill! She takes off the cuffs just in time for the bugs to show up again. They slam the door shut and lock it with a steel pipe through the handles when suddenly a giant knife slams through the door, narrowly missing them. The Pyramid Head demon tries a few more times and then starts trying to pull the door apart. Cybill shoots him a few more times but runs out of ammo just in time for things to revert back to normal.Once the town returns to the regular side, Cybill puts her last clip in her gun while Rose tells her about the hotel key. The two make their way there as we see Chris finding out that there are no records regarding what happened in Silent Hill or at the very least, the records are kept private and locked up.Meanwhile, we see Rose and Cybill get to the Grand Hotel. Inside, they see Dahlia being...plastered (guess they're out of stones)... by a woman named Anna (Tanya Allen). She chases Dahlia out and begins spouting some religious nonsense to Cybill and Rose. Cybill looks around while Rose asks Anna about Sharon. Anna points out a drawing on the floor of a cross with circles on the ends, and says it is a symbol of their faith that was created by the elders of their elders. They are interrupted by Cybill, who has found a bunch of keys scattered across the floor and a piece of art she found in the mailbox for room 111 that looks like Sharon's other works. Rose immediately decides that they need to find room 111 as soon as possible.Back with Chris, we see that night has fallen on his side. He is outside the Braham's town archives. They lock up and leave the building. He heads over there and breaks in. He heads upstairs and after searching around a bit, finds the files for Silent Hill, including a report of a burning victim named Alessa Gillespie. Chris finds a photo of Alessa, and is shocked to see that Alessa looks exactly like Sharon. He dials a number on his cell phone and gets an address for a building.Back with Rose, we see her, Cybill, and Anna -- who is apparently along for info -- looking for room 111, which apparently doesn't exist. Anna points out a picture of the first witch burning the town ever had, and Rose realizes the whole town was founded by witch hunters. In a flash of inspiration, she picks up a knife she took from the kitchen downstairs and tears the picture apart to find...room 111. They go inside and find that the room is little more than a storage closet with a hole in one wall that leads to another hole in the next building, and more beyond. Cybill jumps first, followed by Rose (who loses the knife), and they leave Anna to make the jump herself. Inside this new building they find more stuff and while Cybill is looking around, Rose catches another glimpse of Alessa/Sharon. She gives chase and eventually finds her crying on the other side of a huge pit that leads down into the mines, where we see fires burning. She jumps across, balancing on a few support beams and almost falling once. She goes up to Alessa/Sharon, and the girl turns around and says, "I'm burning" as her arms and then her whole body burst into flame. Rose screams and steps back, only to realize that Alessa/Sharon isn't there. Cybill and Anna find her and get her back over to them just as the siren starts up. Anna screams "The darkness is coming!" and runs off, with Cybill and Rose following close. They wind up at the town church, which is apparently the location of the siren. People are coming out of everywhere to get there while Dahlia stands in front, saying "You run not towards sanctuary but from your fears. Join not the others, for they are deceived as they are damned." Cybill tries to convince her to come inside, but she grabs Cybill and says, "No! They are wolves in the skin of sheep. They brought about their own hell. They'll take you with them!" Anna starts throwing stuff at her and screams "Filth and lies!" at Dahlia, but Cybill holds her back. Rose tries to talk to Dahlia about why they were brought here and what Alessa wants, but Dahlia's only response is, "Evil waits in vengeance. Be careful what you choose," as...Just then the darkness comes. Things begin melting, and Cybill and Rose run inside as Dahlia points her index and ring fingers at Anna. She turns and we see that Pyramid Head has appeared behind her. He picks her up and rips her skin off, splattering Rose and Cybill with her blood. The door finally closes and people begin attacking Rose for being a witch until Cybill fires her gun in the air to calm them...or at least to get them away. The leader of the church, Christabella (Alice Krige) comes forth and reassures them that what happened to Anna was not the fault of "these outsiders." She then gathers the faithful in prayer for sanctuary from the darkness, declaring that "those whose names are not written in the book of life shall burn in the lake of fire."Meanwhile, we see Chris inside the Toluca County Orphanage, trying to get information on Sharon's past. He tries to talk with one of the nuns running the place, but she is very resistant to the idea of giving out information, particularly hers. Chris starts getting rough when suddenly Gucci shows up again. He arrests Chris for breaking and entering (the archives), and then has a talk with him about justice, saying that it's a foggy concept, since there's man's justice, God's...and even the Devil's. He also shows Chris his hands, which were apparently badly burned by something sometime in the past. Gucci then informs Chris that he is being taken out of town and back to his home state and not to ever return again.Back in Silent Hill, we see Christabella explaining to Rose that she will need faith to find her daughter and survive here, since, as she observes, "In the eyes of a child, a mother is God," but Rose isn't buying into this -- she just wants to find Sharon. Christabella agrees to take her to the home of the demon, and, with a few miners along for protection, they head to Brookhaven Hospital. Here Christabella informs Rose and Cybill that the demon is housed in room B151 and gives them a flashlight to see by, even though the monsters will be drawn to it. Rose memorizes the map as much as she can while two miners break open an elevator leading to the wards. Christabella moves to give back Rose's locket, which one of the faithful apparently took from her (Christabella's excuse: "We're scavengers.") when she notices the picture of Sharon inside. She starts calling Rose a witch and Rose runs into the elevator, with Cybill covering her. Cybill kills a miner with his own weapon and starts the elevator going down. Rose screams for her, but it's no use. Cybill trains her gun on Christabella and pulls the trigger...on an empty chamber. The remaining miners beat her senseless as Christabella smiles.Meanwhile, Rose has descended about 40 floors a minute and is now getting out of the elevator. She finds herself in the A Ward, meaning she has to go down one more floor. She begins picking her way through but once on the B floor finds her way blocked by a bunch of freaky looking nurses bent in various awkward positions and holding sharp knives that could slice open an elephant. She shines the light on them and they all snap to attention and begin coming for her. She turns the light off and they go back to rest. She begins to pick her way through, but the nurses eventually wake up and start trying to attack her. She ducks down and tricks them into attacking each other. While they're busy with that, she gets free of the crowd, drops the flashlight, runs, and finds the room. She opens the door and...We hear the voice of Alessa saying that she is going to show Rose the truth about what happened, as a reward for coming all this way. We see Alessa being picked on again, and she runs into the bathroom, which is being cleaned by Colin. He smiles at her and Alessa narrates about how desperate for love and acceptance constant hate can make you, and it is strongly suggested that Colin raped her. We later see her coming out of the bathroom and being talked to by her mother, who looked much better then, and her aunt/principal, Christabella! Since the town is so taken with Christabella, a town meeting is held, and it is decided that the sin shall be cleansed, and that sin is Alessa, since her mother does not know or will not reveal who Alessa's father was. Against Dahlia's protests, they tie her up and roast her over a fire, but the fire spreads until it consumes everything. We next see Alessa, blackened and crispy, being pulled from the wreckage as Dahlia weeps. Alessa describes how her hate grew so much, and how one day something gave her power to use that hate. One day, we see a young nurse doing her rounds. Lisa pokes her head into Alessa's room and becomes her first victim, and...We see Rose in room B151. In front of her is what remains of Alessa (Lorry Ayers), who is now about 30 years older. She is being tended to by an eyeless and blood-covered Lisa. Lisa moves to sit next to Alessa, and then the little girl steps forward. Rose asks who she is, and we get a typical "I have many names" answer. She says that Sharon was the last representation of the goodness in Alessa, and that Sharon is about to be found by Christabella and her minions. Rose asks why she is here and "Alessa" says that it is so Christabella can be confronted with the truth. She then hugs Rose and proceeds to absorb into her body. While doing this, we see Sharon hiding in the Nathan Motel, which Rose kept passing throughout the movie, in time for Dahlia and a bunch of miners to come in. Dahlia tries to ward off the miners, but is unsuccessful and they take Sharon. Meanwhile, we see Chris being dropped off at his car in the early morning. Gucci says that they will keep trying to find Rose and Sharon, but Chris doesn't believe him and drives off.We then cut to the church in daylight. We see a still-alive Cybill tied to a ladder while Christabella says that she must be burned. Cybill tries to shout some sense into the people, but is unsuccessful as one might expect. They lower the ladder over a fire as Cybill catches Sharon's eye and shouts that Rose is coming, but this just draws some laughter from the crowd, who then proceed to burn Cybill's flesh off. The crowd then gets set to burn Sharon too when the doors slam open and we see Rose standing there, with Dahlia creeping up behind. Rose -- now covered in blood, wearing all red, and with fire in her eyes -- begins taking the townsfolk to task for what they are doing, but Christabella orders her burnt as well. Rose laughs at this solve-all solution and gets right up in Christabella's face, but gets stabbed through the heart with a sacred knife of Christabella's. She calls Rose a blasphemer while Sharon screams...just as a drop of black blood falls from the knife to the floor of the church. Things grow dark, and Rose begins coughing out more and more black blood from inside. The blood spreads and the darkness at last overwhelms the church. Old Alessa rises out of the hole that was formed and begins running everyone through with barbed wire and killing them spectacularly while Rose heals (a gift of Alessa's) and makes for Sharon. She gets there with Alessa dispatching anyone who gets in the way while Dahlia watches in horror and asks her daughter, "What have you become?"The young Alessa has shown up just in time for Christabella to get run through with barbed wire. She is torn apart by the wire from inside while Young Alessa dances in the blood rain just as Rose frees Sharon. They crawl into the corner and attempt to ignore everything as Sharon climbs up the ladder. Rose keeps telling Sharon to pretend it's a bad dream just as Sharon opens one eye to find Alessa staring her right in the face.The next morning, we see a depressed Chris arriving home, going inside, and closing the door.Meanwhile, we see Rose and an eerily calm and happy Sharon walking out of the church. Dahlia asks Rose why Alessa didn't kill her and Rose repeats what Christabella told her about a mother's love; "Mother is God in the eyes of a child". Dahlia looks at the two, and Sharon looks at her, and it is strongly implied that Sharon is now Alessa.Rose and her daughter head back to the car, and Rose calls home. The machine picks up, and Christopher hears only static, but we see Rose saying that they'll be home soon. Rose pulls out and through the fog, passes Cybill's motorcycle. They come to where the chasm was, but it fixes itself and they drive on through the fog.They are still in a fog when they pass Braham's Gas and arrive home, where Christopher is sleeping through the unblocked sunlight. The girls go in, leaving the door open, and Sharon goes to play with something as Rose sits on a chair opposite the empty couch where Chris is still lying, having just woken up. He rises and lingers around the chair where Rose isn't sitting in his world, and then heads for the door. He sees that the door is open and runs forward, hoping to maybe catch a glimpse of Rose and Sharon, but when he looks outside, he sees only his car, parked right where Rose had parked her car.Although Rose and Sharon are in the same room as Christopher, they cannot see each other, apparently because Rose and Sharon, still surrounded by fog, now exist in another reality or plane-of-existence, as a result of entering Silent Hill. | dark, boring, gothic, murder, suspenseful, violence, horror, atmospheric, flashback, good versus evil, psychedelic, revenge, sadist | train | imdb | As a fan of the games, and anything related to them, my faith has been firmly established in Gans and Avery, and I can only wish for sequels.The atmosphere was perfect, the acting was on point, the creatures were amazing, well, everything was amazing.The town itself looks just like the town we love, and it's almost like coming home again.
Just as it was a fantastic and brooding background when playing the game, it works very effectively on screen.As for the film itself, the story is a composite of story elements from the first and second games, but the final act is a monstrous and highly original thirty minutes that kept me guessing (as well as being completely grossed out).
After I'd resigned myself to the fact that the movie was going to be disappointing, I was pleasantly surprised as soon as the main character Rose gets to Silent Hill itself.
Others may gripe at how much of a disappointment the movie was because of the lack of certain monsters, the lack of development in the characters they liked best, the lack of answers to puzzling questions, the fact that the storyline was too convoluted and confusing et cetera et cetera.Yet, the heart of the film lies mainly on one simple idea - Silent Hill is first and foremost, a physical manifestation of a child's mind that is shattered, tainted and shackled by an abuse so terrible that one is unable to articulate it into words.
Its a perfect combination of both.Pretty much- I miss Harry- I can understand why they did away with him (I'm glad it wasn't for a stupid reason like them wanting a tough cigar smoking buff man chick thinking that's "P.C.") but the character changes work, the actors in their parts work, the script works, its creepy, its scary, its a great movie.
OK, fine - I was scared.Years later this film adaptation is bravely made by Christophe Gans and, even though I'd played less than ten minutes of the game, I immediately recognised the haunting visuals of the abandoned city.
Some even manage a raised eyebrow, like the crawly CGI cripples.In the end, I think this is quality horror entertainment and probably one of the better game-to-film adaptations, abut it is much too chaotic - too many monsters and too often and too clearly to be frightening.
Rose is the main character and she is always looking for her missing adopted daughter in a mysterious city called Silent Hill, where a lot of creepy facts had happened in the past.
I watched the whole thing from beginning to end, and after the first 15 minutes, I found myself thinking, "self, there's a difference between a complex, interesting film, and a vague and desperate one." This movie is nothing more than an attempt to capitalize on a popular video game, and in the end, leaves so many threads hanging that even the director can't explain them.
It's a pathetic attempt to alter the original game's story, but it manages to do absolutely nothing right, instead needlessly shifting characters' genders and creating extraneous characters that it never makes anything but annoying and awful.The direction is terrible, the photography is atrocious, and the acting is barely serviceable, which says something considering that this film includes some generally good actors.
BUT when you're making a movie with fantastical elements, like those in SILENT HILL, the more closely and rigorously you define a 'real world' to contrast with the fantastical you're going to create, the more impact that latter world will have on the audience.
This movie is based on Konami's "Silent Hill" series of games, mainly on the first, with elements of the second.
My guess: Lack of talent by the people trying to adapt them.The movie feels at all times like a video game (without the fun), the monsters get badder as people progress, and are completely different ones for no apparent reason.
Not bad in a video game, where playability is the most important factor, and the storyline is just a plus which is supposed to add a little depth between the monster slashing, but terrible in a movie, where the storyline is supposed to be what entertains you.Not only that, the movie is completely predictable and the directors seem to aim quite low at their intended public, as they are making obvious in too many of the scenes something that was completely obvious from the very beginning and that is supposed to surprise you at the end.The special effects were the least bad part of the movie, but they were far from impressive, you could always tell they were computer animations (the "nude" in the movie is also computer effects) and some of them were too faithful to first person shooters character figures, more cartoon-like than real.The movie fails completely to create any suspense as it is completely predictable, the characters are completely dull and cartoon like.
First of all I have to say that I've only played the SH1 game, so I'm not as knowledgeable about the whole SH mythos as others.I tried going into the movie with the most objective attitude possible, which was very difficult since I loved SH1 and played it all the way to the end.No doubt about it, Silent HIll is a dark movie with a layered plot.
You have to read between the lines and think a little bit about what's going on.Silent Hill, the movie, is mostly a visual experience.
It almost fully recreates the atmosphere of the game (and I say almost because there's really no replacing that first-person, interactive experience you get in a video game); however some gore and violence could keep people who are not hardcore horror movie lovers or averse to blood and disturbing images from liking it.Only one possible drawback, and I hope I'm wrong on this, but the lack of a major male character in the movie could hurt it at the box office.
The first half of the movie WILL send goose-bumps up and down your back as the town of Silent Hill and the atmospheres that surrounds it seems to rip it right off the game itself.
Nothing beats the creepiness of a lone woman walking down an empty street in an abandon town with a bad dose of ju-ju.The monsters in this film are few when comparing to other movies that are based on video game, and their appearances are brief.
I'm a fan of horror and also a video games player, but watching Silent Hill was a slow and tedious experience.
All they had to do was make a movie with the storyline of the first or second Silent Hill game, not combine elements from the two so it made no sense whatsoever.
So she must enter the town of Silent Hill to find her.While there are not many truly scary moments to the movie (one or two 'jumps' just because of a loud sound), there is definitely a fair amount of creepiness to it.
Its the full package dealNow the people i went to see the move with came out of the movie saying "that was a great movie, but i had a hard time keeping up with it and what just happened." If you have not played the series, you may come out a little confused, but you can not deny that this is the best horror/game adaptation that was ever been made.
All I ever really wanted out of a video game film adaptation was one that simulated the feeling of the game to the point where it actually felt like the game it was based off of in every aspect (save for the technical ones such as menus, options, etc.); not only would it full fill the needs of the long-running fans (in other words didn't start playing the most recent game in the series before viewing), but it would also give common movie goers a better idea of what the game is really about between its presentation, cast of characters, aspects, fun-factor and strains.
Here is the movie's most accurate points: Set designs - 90% of the sets actually looked like the backgrounds to many of the Silent Hill games between the fog inundated street corners and even parts of the Other World (forgiving the fact that we only see a little bit of it now and then).
There was just about one character in the movie who showed any point of development or characterization, but the character was so poorly presented it was impossible to feel anything for said character.Too much gore - It's not that I don't appreciate a gory horror film, it's just that the Silent Hill games were never entirely about massive amounts of gore, blood or even shocking deaths.
What seems like a romp into another's psyche and a horrifying truth that challenges the very existence of the characters we're supposed to care about turns out to be a sad excuse to make a modern horror movie with a bunch of gore and a video game name slapped on the cover.Atmosphere - The atmosphere of the Silent Hill games are indeed visual and often ubiquitous, but it is still a slow atmosphere that lingers on the audience and builds up through exploration of settings.
So, in a way, I'm envious, because the movie looks a lot like the games (although there seem to have been a lot of compromises in constructing it - characters from one game, storyline from another, etc; or so my big SH fan - informer tells me).However, Silent Hill suffers from a totally different disease than the Resident Evil franchise: the games are very engrossing, mind-boggling, they take you to the edge of perception and logic.
You do feel at times that the director tries to transfer ideas from the world of the games to the world of film, in the sense of Silent Hill being not only a typical 'ghost town' story, but also a metaphorical place of demise and sin, the most horrid depths of ones mind - a big, entrenching nightmare.
The supporting cast is bursting with gifted character actors like Sean Bean, Alice Krige and Deborah Kara Unger but their roles are too small to make a significant impact on the film."Silent Hill" transforms from an eerie thriller into a fast-paced, supernatural horror movie when Rose loses Sharon to the Silent Hill locals.
Just watched this last night.I had mixed expectations as it had received very good reviews and comments on here but on the other hand it is a film of a video game which in my opinion a half decent film has never come out of that equation.I found the film quite boring,special effects were nothing special,acting was wooden and the plot quite hard to follow.I have not played the games so maybe you need to be a fan of the games to enjoy this film.Sean Bean sleepwalks his way through the script,Radha Mitchells performance was adequate I suppose.I would like too see more of her work before passing judgement on her abilities.
as a fan of good stories, atmospheric cinema, silent hill and scary movies, i find myself disappointed on all levels.
Not since The Grudge have I seen so many people in a theater laughing at a horror movie.The dialog in this movie was terrible, the movie is drawn out too long, there's sequences which completely break the flow of the movie, Sean Bean's character is a waste of time, the actors accents pop out constantly, the two cop characters are over-the-top ridiculous, as well as the main characters doing very unnecessary things which don't make sense (Tarzan scene?), loaded with horror movie clichés, and just plain bad.I can't be the only person who doesn't find the "creepy little girl" device creepy anymore...
The preceding paragraph sums up for me the movie version of "Silent Hill." To truly enjoy this film you'll need to be about ten years old, play video games in a darkened room, have never read a book in your life (apart from the one about Spot the dog), never seen a truly great horror/fantasy movie (or if you did, dismiss it because of a lack of CGI), get easily confused by an episode of "The Simpsons" to the point where following a plot line for anything becomes superfluous to your enjoyment and you must have no idea of what good film making is about.
the production on this film was great, sound design wasn't great but it done the just, the visuals were generally great and i loved the photography BUTThis is probably one of the worst films i have EVER seen.....nothing held water, the plot was confusing and pointless......and it was such a terrible waste of a great actor like Sean Bean....If people want to sit at home on their personal computers and play games with disposable plots then fine, if they gain enjoyment out of the gameplay kudos to them.....but I'm not really sure how this films would work as a game let alone a film?I'm not sure i could go as far as to say the ending was clichéd because even a cliché would serve a purpose, this didn't.
I haven't played the game, but I think this is definitely one of the best horror movies made in recent years.
As a big fan of the Silent Hill series, I went to watch this film with a lot of expectations.
Silent Hill is the best video-game-to-movie adaptation ever made, hands down.
You obviously know the story, a mother loses her daughter in the ghost town of Silent Hill and creepy things start happening.
This isn't a great review since I can't explain this movie that well, it's just definitely worth seeing, best horror movie I've seen all year, and it's a MUST-SEE for fans of the game..
While generally bashed by reviewers and by disappoint teenagers with nothing better to do on a Friday night, Silent Hill is an excellent adaptation as well as horror film.Many people complain about two things: 1) 'I don't get it!' 2) 'It wasn't scary!'Well I'm going to address both: 1) You probably don't get it because you never actually sat down and played the games.
But that's not necessarily a bad thing, because it lets your mind and imagination fill in the blanks, and that can be a lot better than some lousy tie in.2)If you had played the games, you'd realize that Silent Hill was never meant to be scary.
It was meant to creep you out and let your imagination do the scaring, which this movies has in spades.Great cinematography, music, story, and characters; Silent Hill is the thinking man's Resident Evil.
However, I didn't know that much about this movie, and only went to see it because I love horror films and couldn't wait to see the story about the girl who gets lost in an abandoned town.However, after sitting through the two hours of torture, violence,and gore, I left the movie feeling sick at my stomach and weirdly guilty about having watched it.
Silent Hill Proves Video Game Movies Can Rule Too!.
Right from the start you notice how emotions and character are a big part of the film especially the stellar storyline, I love how they changed Harry Mason from Silent Hill one into a woman (not in a literal sense) the main actress has a lot of great scenes and plays them out well especially during the scene with the Janitor creature and most of every scene where shes shocked or frightened.
I have to say though most of Sean Bean's (sp?) scenes weren't that great with the acting, the whole side dish from the atmosphere of Silent Hill and Rose's search to Christopher was a little relief mainly because it gives the audience who haven't played the game a little more storyline.
Other than that I really loved the whole Cybill scene (fans of the game and people who have watched the movie know what i'm talking about.) Let's hope the critics accept this film and it makes a huge success I accepted it along with my friends.
It's a very fun movie to watch, managing to capture the disturbing psychological elements as well as the straight out horror moments that those of us who have played the game really enjoy.
I however, do feel sympathy towards all other game to movie adaptations to come out in the future, because Silent Hill raised the bar to new heights.
Silent Hill the movie did exactly what the video games did, it scared me to a point where i realized i was also living it (when I play the games i feel like I am the one isolated there).
When she comes to Sharon is gone and Rose goes to Silent Hill to find her...I never played the video game so I can only review this as a movie.
Having never played the 'Silent Hill' games I am unable to comment on the accuracy of the adaptation skills regarding this movie.
I hear the directors wanted the movie rewritten to include a male character - this was poor judgement, the movie was perfect as written and Sean's scenes just slow it down and add unnecessary (and rather weak) plot where it just wasn't needed.Go see this movie if you like horror movies and it's a MUST if you ever played Silent Hill on your PS2...
Silent Hill for these reasons is definitely one of the best game to film translations but that sadly, doesn't make it a great piece of cinema.
Stating outright that I have never played the video game "Silent Hill" before seeing the movie might be an odd way to start this review, but I feel that it must be said.
Horror at a new level and Game/movie adaptation at its all-time best. |
tt0063035 | The Green Berets | At Fort Bragg, cynical newspaper reporter George Beckworth (David Janssen) is at a Special Forces briefing about the American military involvement in the war in Vietnam. The briefing at Gabriel Demonstration Area (named for SGT Jimmy Gabriel, the first "Green Beret" soldier killed in Vietnam), includes a demonstration and explanation of the whys and wherefores of participating in the Vietnam War.
Skeptical civilians and journalists are told that international Communism is what the U.S. is fighting in Vietnam. Proof: weapons and equipment, captured from North Vietnamese soldiers and Vietcong guerrillas, manufactured in the Soviet Union, Communist Czechoslovakia, and Communist China. Despite that, Beckworth remains skeptical about the value of intervening in Vietnam's civil war. When asked by Green Beret Colonel Mike Kirby (John Wayne) if he had ever been to Southeast Asia, reporter Beckworth replies that he had not, prompting a discourteous acknowledgement of his opinion. Realizing his ignorance, Beckworth decides to go in-country to report on what he finds there so he may better his argument that America needs to stop participating in this unwinnable war.
Colonel Kirby is posted to South Vietnam with two handpicked A-Teams of Special Forces troopers. One A-Team is to replace a team at a basecamp working with South Vietnamese and Montagnard soldiers while the other A-Team is to form a counter guerrilla Mike force. While selecting his teams, Kirby intercepts a Spc. Petersen (Jim Hutton) from another unit who is scrounging supplies from Kirby's supply depot. Realizing Petersen's skills, Kirby promotes him and brings him onto his SF team. The A team includes: Captain MacDaniel, (Edward Faulkner), a replacement for Captain Coleman; Lieutenant's Sachs, (Frank Koomen), and Moore, a Savoy 8 team leader; Master Sergeant Muldoon (Aldo Ray) the senior NCO; Sergeant First Class "Doc" McGee, (Raymond St. Jacques) the teams medical sergeant; Sergeant First Class Kowalski, (Mike Henry) the teams communications specialist; Sergeant Provo, (Luke Askew) the team's heavy weapons specialist; Sergeant Watson, (Eddy Donno) teams Mortar crewman; and Sergeant Parks, (Rudy Robbins), a man from the Southern United States.
Arriving in South Vietnam, they meet Beckworth whom Kirby allows to join them at the base camp where he witnesses the humanitarian aspect (irrigation ditches, bandages, candy for children) of the Special Forces mission. Still, he remains skeptical of the U.S.'s need to be there.
During this period, Petersen befriends a young native boy named Ham Chuck (Craig Jue), a war orphan who has no family other than his pet dog and the soldiers at the base camp. Also introduced is the ARVN base camp strike force leader Captain Nim (George Takei), who was a former Viet Minh officer from Hanoi during the previous war and is now fighting for the anti-communist South Vietnamese government. He's obsessed with having to "kill all the stinking Viet Cong" to win this war. He also claims that there is a spy network within the camp and ARVN strike force.
During Captain Coleman's (Jason Evers)) final night of his tour, he spends some time in the Team House writing a letter announcing his return. Beckworth, and several of the A detachments, Sergeant's Provo, Watson, and Lark are playing cards. One member, Parks, cannot play in the game as his reputation for cons and luck-playing was well known, Coleman instructs the men to check their guard duty rosters before they turn in to rest. He bids everyone good night and Coleman returns to his own sleeping quarters. Not long afterwards, the camp begins to get hit with Viet Cong mortars in a harassment action. The mortar fire strikes the dispensary, "communication bunker" and the team house before it suddenly stops. However the team house is in flames when other soldiers hastened to check on Coleman who was known to be inside at the time of the attack. MacDaniel dispersed nearby soldiers on various assignments to check if there is any damage done to the communication bunker as well forming a reconnaissance patrol. However Coleman is found dead by Sergeant Provo and a soldier amidst the flaming debris. After Coleman's death MacDaniel informs Colonel Kirby of his demise, Provo observed the fact that Captain Coleman was due to return home the following day,
One day, Sergeant Muldoon, while supervising a group of U.S. Seabees clearing part of the jungle around the base camp and evacuating the civilians in preparation for a potential Viet Cong attack, notices an ARVN soldier pacing unusually outside the team house and mess hall and slugs him out. Upon interrogation by Captain Nim, the ARVN soldier denies being a Viet Cong spy, until Nim discovers a silver cigarette lighter in the ARVN soldier's possession, which belonged to a Green Beret medical specialist, a friend of Kirby's, recently murdered by the VC. After Beckworth sees Nim beat and torture the Viet Cong suspect to get a confession from him, he confronts Kirby about it. The Colonel justifies the interrogation by telling Beckworth about the cigarette lighter the Viet Cong suspect had, and how the VC are ruthless killers who deserve no protection of any kind in this new kind of war.
Another few days later, Beckworth accompanies Kirby and his team on a patrol to a local village in the nearby mountains. It is here that Beckworth changes his mind about the American involvement in the Vietnam war after witnessing the aftermath of a Viet Cong terror attack on a nearby Montagnard village in which the young granddaughter of the village Chief he had befriended earlier, as well as the Chief and most of the male villagers, are tortured and executed by the VC for cooperating with the Americans.
Another evening or so later, the Special Forces camp is attacked in a massed nighttime attack by thousands of enemy Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops. Kirby and Muldoon fly out to assess the situation. Their helicopter is shot down by enemy fire, but they are soon rescued by a patrol where they secure a field as an landing zone (LZ) for US and ARVN reinforcements as a 'Mike Force' to aid the besieged camp.
Meanwhile, the ferocious North Vietnamese Army attack upon the SF camp continues relentlessly. Beckworth is forced to take a rifle from a fallen ARVN sergeant and fights alongside the Green Berets as well as helping move the local villagers into the camp to protect them from the enemy onslaught.
As the battle rages, Ham Chunk's pet dog is killed and the young boy tearfully buries his faithful companion. Symbolically, the boy uses the stick he had used to dig the dog's grave as the tombstone. He is found by Petersen who takes him to safety with the other refugees. As ARVN soldiers rush to their defensive positions, the stick is knocked away, leaving an unmarked grave.
At this time, the perimeter of the camp is breached by enemy sappers who blow up holes in the barbed wire fences around the camp, and the Green Berets and ARVN soldiers are forced to fall back to the inner perimeter however, though the battle costs the lives of Lieutenant Sachs, Sergeant Sooby, and many are killed in the battle. Captain MacDaniel, (Seabee) Lieutenant Jamison, (Patrick Wayne), Sergeant Griffin (Chuck Roberson) are both wounded. Provo is mortally gunned down by double agents posing as South Vietnamese soldiers. Nim sets off the hidden explosives which kill the double agents. Parks is hit wounded badly but still alive. Just then, Kirby and Muldoon arrive with the Mike Force reinforcements, supported by a US airstrike in which A-1 Skyraiders drop napalm on the attacking enemy troops with little success. Nim is killed by enemy artillery as he is detonating claymore mines to kill more attacking enemy soldiers within the camp's lines.
By dawn, with the enemy attack still continuing, Kirby orders the troops to fall back and withdraw from the camp, which is then taken by the enemy. At a nearby LZ, more US Army helicopters arrive to evacuate the refugees and Petersen puts Ham Chuck on one of the helicopters and promises to return for him in Da Nang. With the base in VC/NVA hands, Kirby orders an airstrike by "Puff the Magic Dragon" (an AC-47 Spooky armed with three Vulcan Miniguns) on the camp, which kills the occupying Viet Cong troops. When the enemy departs, Kirby and his team re-occupy the destroyed camp.
Afterwords, Kirby has a talk with Beckworth where the reporter admits that he probably will be fired from the newspaper where he works for filing a story supporting US involvement in the war. He then thanks Kirby for the experience and returns to Da Nang with the Mike Force reinforcements. Jamison says that Provo is requesting Colonel Kirby's presence. However Provo starts to almost die of his wounds but tells Kirby to request for his memorial sign name to the public to be known as Provo Privy.
After that battle, Beckworth temporarily disappears from the story, while Kirby meets with his superior officer Colonel Morgan (Bruce Cabot) as well as Kirby's ARVN counterpart, Colonel Cai, where he is told about a top-secret mission they have been planning to kidnap a very important North Vietnamese field commander named General Pha Son Ti who is currently living in North Vietnam. The capture of General Ti is seen as a bargaining chip to ending the war on South Vietnam's terms as well as disrupt the leadership of the Viet Cong. Colonel Cai uses his sister-in-law, a top Vietnamese fashion model named Lin, as a honey trap to lure General Ti to a guarded former French colonial mansion located in a well guarded valley deep in North Vietnam.
Kirby, Muldoon, Peterson, and a handful of Green Berets, Montagnards (Degar), and ARVN soldiers are selected for this secret mission by Cai, who will be accompanying them. At nightfall, they are airlifted in a C-130 transport and parachuted into the North Vietnam jungle. After Kirby's point man, Kowalski, is killed by a patrol of local enemy militia, all of whom he kills single-highhandedly, the group continues on. Muldoon, the medical specialist Doc McGee, and two of Cai's men, are to stay behind at a local bridge over a river to set explosive to blow it up to prevent the team from being chased by the NVA forces.
At nightfall, Kirby and the group arrive outside the guarded plantation where they witness the enemy general arrive at his plantation with Lin. After Kirby and Cai and their men kill all the sentries around the mansion, they quietly enter, subdue the enemy general with Lin's help, and hoist him outside, where they put him in the trunk of his car. Kirby, Cai, Petersen, and Lin drive off, but Watson and the rest of the team is killed in a hail of bullets by the North Vietnamese guards while attempting to escape.
At dawn, the survivors drive over the bridge which is rigged with explosives, but Doc McGee is seriously wounded after being shot in the back by an NVA guard. The bridge is blown up and the group is reunited in the nearby woods where they dispose of the General's car and successfully airlift the captured General out of the area by a Skyhook device.
While Kirby and the group advance through the woods to the LZ for the helicopters to pick them up, Petersen is killed by an enemy booby-trap when he is gorily impaled on punji sticks. Kirby and his team are forced to leave his dead body behind.
Back at Da Nang Air Force base, Beckworth watches as Ham Chuck awaits the return of the helicopters carrying the survivors of the raid. He realizes the toll of the war as Ham Chuck runs crying from helicopter to helicopter, searching for Petersen, who is not there. Beckworth then accompanies a group of US soldiers who have arrived in the country and are sent to the war zone area. Kirby, in a touching moment, walks over to the boy and tells him the sad news. Ham Chuck asks plaintively, "What will happen to me now?" Kirby places Petersen's green beret on him and says, "You let me worry about that, Green Beret. You're what this thing's all about." The two walk holding hands along the beach into the sunset. | revenge, murder, violence | train | wikipedia | It's hard to find a Vietnam war movie that DOESN'T come full of distortions based on the film makers political agendas; it's just this time "The Green Berets" comes from the pro-involvement side.We've heard the negatives about this movie, and most of them are basically correct but there are a few things to say that, if not positive, put the movie in a less negative light.First, this isn't your usual piece about 19 year old conscripts being called up to fight in a war they don't understand.
Yes, the Duke is on the right wing campaign trail but other film makers have used the Vietnam war to promote the liberal left agenda so I don't get why that is acceptable and an alternative view that doesn't conform to that is inherently wrong.
I'm not advocating that the US's involvement in a war in Vietnam was right, just that people understand the involvement of other nations as well.For those who think this movie is bad because it doesn't depict American atrocities, drug taking and insubordination like other Vietnam war movies have merely bought into another set of falsehoods.
A lot of reviewers of this film seem to be more upset by the alleged leftist political views of those who dislike the movie, rather than taking a look at why this motion picture is, sadly, an embarrassing joke.Prior to the Tet Offensive, there was still a good deal of support for the Vietnam War in the USA.
It isn't its sloppy attention to detail (yeah, sorry previous posters, but the sun setting on the wrong side of the planet IS terrible film making, even if it is possible to see it that way in some portions of South Vietnam), it's the jingoistic simplicity of the film's entire approach and cardboard characterizations.You've got every form of tired, old stereotypical World War II soldier...
Nice acting by John Wayne , as usual , he was prompted to make the film as a response to the growing anti-Vietnam War movement in the US .
Actually , it was one of John Wayne's biggest box-office successes , attracting millions of moviegoers and ending up being the 13th highest grossing movie of 1968.Colorful cinematography in Panavision by Winton Hoch , filmed on location in Columbus, Georgia , and Ft. McClellen, Alabama .
"The Green Berets" clearly follows the genre of war movies for which John Wayne is famous.
It makes the same kind of social and political statement that John Wayne's World War II movies make.
Although "They Were Expendable" is a better film overall, "Green Berets" is also quite good, and both movies have a lot in common.They show the enemy as the enemy - vicious killers.And they show Americans as being flawed, but good & brave.They were both made *during* the war.Which means the outcome was unknown - would we win or lose?
In this context, the film is one I will never forget.John Wayne made this as a political film in an attempt to counter the rising tide of what he and others like him saw as treasonous protests against the government and the military over the conflict in Viet Nam. This horrid almost-war was tearing many families apart in controversy.
In this context, the film is one I will never forget.John Wayne made this as a political film in an attempt to counter the rising tide of what he and others like him saw as treasonous protests against the government and the military over the conflict in Viet Nam. This horrid almost-war was tearing many families apart in controversy.
And take a look at the based-on-true-stories movies "The Hanoi Hilton" and "The Killing Fields" to get an idea of how brutal the South-East Asian communists were to P.O.W.s and ordinary people."The Green Berets" also has some excellent battle sequences.
The only thing wrong with this movie was that John Wayne's character, COL Kirby, was not Ranger qualified.Forget the trite lines and poor special effects.
True of The Alamo and true of The Green Berets.The Duke's problem was simply that he made a World War II film about Vietnam.
I well remember when The Green Berets first came out, Renata Adler wrote an absolutely hysterical review of it, cursing out the film and its producer/star every name in the book in that well known paper that only prints news fit to print.Even World War II films as well as Vietnam ones done now have the value of some historical perspective if they're done now.
Pro-Vietnam War. Probably the only major motion picture to actively support the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict, John Wayne leads an elite team of Green Berets on a search-and-destroy mission to capture a leading NVA general.
It just happens, as if it were undertaken in the next few days.While I have versions of "Apocalypse Now" and its "Redux," I do not have other Vietnam war movies such as "Platoon" (an aberration), "The Deer Hunter" (preposterous), "Hamburger Hill" (stumbling) or "Full Metal Jacket" (another aberration), although I have subjected myself to having watched them all at one time or another.I watch "The Green Berets" for another chance to get mad at Maltin and other speculators who were not out there and do not understand at all.
It was John Wayne and the Green Berets was Hollywood's first depiction of our most controversial war when it was still being fought (the movie was released the same year as the Tet Offensive).
The film has been to overly picked on for decades.It is not a masterpiece.The jungle looks not like Vietnam.The helicoptor shot is horrible for se at this time in history.It stands out horriblely.John Wayne gives a good performace in the film.The plot is centered on the green berets fight to protect a few camps and mission.The film has a few good actors.I love Sergant Mulldoon's fighting spirt.He is the sarge.The politics may seem a bit jaded.At the time of the film,we had not lost or left vietnam.See it in the context of the time....
Even if you don't like the politics in the movie, I think you can still enjoy it as an action/war film.One final thing about the movie.
The movie critics enjoy making fun of the final scene where John Wayne and the Vietnamese boy walk on the beach as the sun sets in the east.
i havent seen many john wayne movies but the only reason i saw this one is because my grandpa and i were talking about his time in the war.
Apocalypse now, the Deer hunter, Platoon, etc., (you know the ones) are just a few of the movies that ignored the barbarism of both the Viet Cong and Khamer rouge in indo-china, conveniently overlook the global political realities of the time as well as unfairly mock the military.Years later, the Green Berets actually offer a different viewpoint.
Left wing film reviewers worth what they are: nothing :-) And don't call me a redneck, I'm French.Thank goodness there were actors like The Duke.Great movie.
time.In honor of John Wayne, it is my third favorite movie about the Vietnam War.This movie is neither as bad as credit given to it, or as good as it could have been.It is really a JW western set in Vietnam and that is fine.
Where the conventional warfare military leaders thought that European land battle tactics could win an Asian war.The special forces then and of today got the message...the cold war wasn't the true war, it was the war of the flea being waged in south America, east europe, asia, and Africa.Enjoy the movie for what it is...Wayne's unashamed tribute to a new breed of American soldier...the special operator.
Chances are if you can walk and keep your sex life reasonably private like GOP Congressmen and mega church preachers try to, they will have you.To its benefit, "The Green Berets" is no more or less a distortion of the Vietnam War than most Hollywood efforts at telling the "truth" about that conflict; it's just that its hyped, gung ho and pro-war distortion is politically incorrect.
This enigmatic, forgotten man who performed the ballad on probably every "flyover country" variety show from Jimmy Dean to Ed Sullivan while the novelty lasted actually merits his own biopic movie."The Green Berets" is so riveting as a Vietnam movie, and as cultural history, because it is such a curiously misplaced and relentlessly absorbing mind candy variation of all those upbeat, thrilling, and overblown Frank Sinatra, Trever Howard, Alec Guinness (and John Wayne) World War II adventure movies that preceded it.
Produced it through his son, co-directed it, and starred in it.Don't blame John entirely for hapless production values either, such as the scrubby pine barrens of south Alabama and Georgia military reservations subbing for the defoliated bush of "Country." He wanted to film it in Country, just like Mankiewicz had partially done a decade earlier for "The Quiet American," but the U.
Perhaps if it actually had been shot on location a little reality might have seeped in by mistake, or maybe things were just too hot in Southeast Asia in '68 even for a John Wayne who finally wanted to do some morale boosting duty in a real war zone.It doesn't matter.
It presented a very interesting, emotional, and heartfelt view of the Viet Nam war from the perspective of a Green Beret played by legendary action film star, John Wayne, as well as a young Vietnamese boy.
I enjoy it because a) John Wayne is still one of the greats and b) the film portrays a good storyline and excellent action..
Had Wayne instead chosen to make this a WWII film about American special operatives then it would undoubtedly be a highly regarded and classic war film.With a neat cast and characters, especially Jim Hutton who I'd suggest was perfect for his role, 'The Green Berets' I would also suggest shows pretty accurately, the make up, doctrine and activities of U.S. Special Forces at the time; more experienced professional soldiers with specialised skills and training including in linguistics, medicine and the like, able to live alongside and amongst indigenous peoples and help to win their 'hearts and minds' and providing humanitarian and medical assistance as well as recruiting and training local militias.This film showcases who those guys are and what they do to an audience many of whom would have (both at that time in the 60's and now) very little idea about that sort of thing.
Of course it's not perfect and maybe some of the Green Berets are a little too old, carry their rifles funny and walk far too close together when in the bush, but it's a John Wayne movie (and one of my favourites).
By making this movie in the midst of The Vietnam war John Wayne proved he was man of courage and principle.Despite the growing anti-war moment in the US at the time, Wayne had the courage to make a film that stood up for and defended the troops fighting communism in Asia.
(I say "fair" not to down grade Janssen's acting ability but because it is hard to believe a reporter could have a conscience or a sense of patriotism!) It is great to see George Takei having a role outside of "Star Trek" and he turns in a great performance as Captain Nim, South Vietnam's version of Wayne.With its super battle scenes and typical war film dramatics, the movie is easy entertainment.
The film was an opportunity to see Wayne in a fresh venue, and for many fans that alone is reason enough to see the film.Just a great little film that had the nerve to look at both side of the Vietnam question and give the answers that Hollywood didn't want to hear, and he did it while the war was still going on!In his own words he did this one "for the boys over there, who answered their country's call and their families that have to wait here watching the garbage said about them on TV."This one is still for the Boys!
Having lived through that time (men of my generation served), John Wayne's commentary on the media and the war effects at home were "deja vu all over again." We hear the same thing about Iraqi people being unworthy of the effort, etc.
The film is in two parts the first showing what life is like living under constant attack,the second involves a dangerous mission.The film captures the tension of a war zone and the difficulty of knowing which side some of the soldiers are on,treacherous acts are never far away.The film shows the hatred of the south for the north which John Wayne looks disaprovingly on.The cast includes the typical USA sgt played by Aldo Ray,the tragi/comedy part of the scrounger played by Jim Hutton and the kindly Doc. The village ransacked by the vietcong is movingly done and the battle scenes very well done and quite violent for the movies release date,so watch this movie and leave your prejuidices aside and you will be gripped by it.8/10.
The Best and Most Accurate Movie About the Vietnam War. While most of Hollywood was out trashing the United States for coming out against Communism, a few directors and actors had the courage to come out against such a mindset and they were able to escape the liberal censors and ground out a few projects, including "Red Nightmare," the "Rambo" trilogy, and..."The Green Berets." The main star, John Wayne, supported the war and expressed his support for it freely in this movie and it had very little effect on his reputation.
I don't know if John Wayne thought he was doing his country a service by making this film or if he even knew that at the time it was in production the KIA of Americans in Viet Nam was already at 20,000+.
If you were to ask me I would say it was made purely for propaganda reasons cause at this time in the war things were not going well, and who else to up the image of Viet Nam than John Wayne.
Great Object Lesson On Why We Didn't Come Out On Top. Seriously, if you ever need a demonstration on why the US Military did not "prevail" in Vietnam dig out THE GREEN BERETS with John Wayne.
On one plane of consideration it may be the best depiction of the way the war was being fought, which in this case was like a glorified version of THE ALAMO or FORT APACHE.Once you get down to brass tacks this is just another large scale war movie -- You've got John Wayne swaggering around, larger than life, the lovable Hamchunk with his even more lovable doggie pal, the misfit "Scrounger" with his bottles of Scotch and designer pajamas, Mr. Sulu from "Star Trek" aping an uncompromising ARVN officer who rigs his own troops' foxholes with explosives under the anticipation of them turning traitor, a goofy kid who's dying wish is to have a toilet named after him, and so on.
The problem is of course that Vietnam was it's own war and the tone of the film's 1950s era flag waving glory boy jingoistic pap comes off as nothing short of absurd, replete with wonderfully boneheaded touches like forests of Georgia blue pines, southern boy extras made up to play Charlie who nonetheless still look like good ole' boys, and even a closing shot of the sun setting over the Sea of China.
After Vietnam war was depicted with a kind of gloomy, introspective sense of guilt that is completely absent from Wayne's vision.That's because it didn't exist yet when this film was made, and you can't fault a movie for being true to it's times even when the ones that came after it may have resonated with the current cultural gestalt.
The much maligned "The Green Berets" was John Wayne's pro Viet Nam war statement.
The Green Berets is a great John Wayne film!
The one where the sun sets in the east.The Green Berets is certainly the least film in the John Wayne canon..
Ah well, what do you want with sets as fake as Hollywood backdrops and lines that drop like wood in an empty auditorium.You cant even call this a movie about Vietnam, its a John Wayne war movie that is set in the jungles of California.
(Unfortunately this young Marine veteran committed suicide a few years later, and I never knew if the war was a factor in his early death.) As far as the film is concerned, the history is flawed, the storyline is well intentioned but too simple, and frankly you could have substituted the Old West and Native Americans as the enemy, and the same story could have been used.Now at age 50, and with a young family friend in the Green Berets deployed overseas, I have a different take on this movie.
Don't get me wrong I really wanted to like this movie, as I like John Wayne, and I appreciate this sort of film.
The film is actually two consecutive stories, the first following Col. Kirby (Wayne) as he prepares & deploys his Special Forces "teams" (as if the Army had taken to viewing war as nothing more than The Big Game) to Vietnam.
John Wayne always stood tall politically for American values during good times and bad.
John Wayne was seeking to make a film that would be an exciting action movie and that would win support for the war.
John Wayne picks two "A-teams" of green berets for a special mission into South Vietnam.
I'm sorry, but John Wayne's view of America ended after the mid-1960's and this film was totally out of step with the times.By the way, WE LOST IN VIETNAM!!!.
John Wayne set out to make a film depicting the "real" Vietnam based on a book.
Please believe me that I generally love John Wayne films--just not poorly made ones like this one.The plot is very pro-Vietnam War and this didn't really bother me. |
tt0179182 | Forever Mine | The highly stylized film begins in the early 80's as first class airline passenger, the mysterious and facially scarred Manuel Esquema (Fiennes) reflects on his earlier and significantly different life. Flashbacks take us a decade and a half earlier to a posh Miami hotel where we find that Esquema was really a dashing young cabana boy named Alan Riply. His best friend is fellow cabana boy Javier Cesti (Laresca), who often suggests that the pair would make much more money if they worked for some connections he had in the drug trafficking trade. As fate has it, one day Alan is assigned to the cabana of a wealthy businessman/politician named Mark Brice (Liotta) and his much younger and uber seductive blonde wife, Ella (Mol). Instantly, Alan realizes that he is destined to be with Ella forever and her marriage doesn't deter him in the least from making direct advances. Fortunately for Alan, Ella confesses that she's unhappy and unfulfilled in her marriage, but she's fearful of her powerful mate, so she is reluctant to initiate an affair with Riply. His advances and his raw sexuality are too much for Ella to resist, so the two begin a brief, torrid affair, always careful to avoid detection. When Ella and her husband leave the resort and return to New York, she assumes that the romance is, regrettably but necessarily, over. Not according to Alan who, despite buddy Javier's advice, moves to the big city to pursue Ella. For another brief time the affair is rekindled and all seems magical until Ella's guilt forces her to confess to irate husband Mark. To get revenge, the cuckold Mark uses his connections to have Alan falsely implicated in a drug bust and sentenced to a long haul in jail (which he could have avoided if he'd only agreed to stop pursuing Ella.) Even prison can't stop the blinding lust Alan feels for Ella. He writes deeply moving love letters to her until one is intercepted by her frustrated husband. To end things once and for all, he has a fake escape attempt conducted, during which Riply is to be gunned down. Upon hearing the news of her lover's fate from her guilty-looking mate, Ella accuses him of ordering the hit, which he half-heartedly denies, secure in the belief that his marital ordeal has ended at last. Flash forward to the time in which the story began. The gunshot-disfigured Riply, assuming the name Esquema and accompanied by his equally well-dressed buddy Javier from the cabana days, is arriving by plane at New York. There, he has a meeting with his former nemesis, Mark Brice, who now is in political and legal trouble, even facing time in a federal penitentiary for his various misdeeds. Now altered facially (perhaps not enough to convince the average viewer), Esquema's true identity is hidden, so he works on a deal to do money-laundering and influence peddling for Brice. The reason is clear; Esquema/Riply wants another chance to see and be near Ella, who also fails to recognize him at a dinner meeting. Things come to a head when Esquema/Riply reveals his true identity to Ella and expresses his desire to be with her. At the same time, identity still unknown to Mark, he agrees to a plan in which he helps him avoid a long stint at the Federal Penitentiary in exchange for his wife. As a reunited and blissfully happy Ella and Riply leave New York forever, Mark puts two and two together and furiously pursues them to exact violent revenge. The outcome of the pursuit and the players' fates may not be clear in each viewer's perception. | revenge, violence, flashback | train | imdb | null |
tt0285335 | The Amazing Race | Open with teams learning they are next headed to Vienna, Austria where they will get their next clue in a car. Teams go immediately to local travel agencies.Flight Time & Big Easy and Zev & Justin get a connecting flight that arrives at 5:35am the next morning. Kisha & Jen are on the same flight, as are Gary & Mallory. Jet & Cord take a direct flight in order to avoid the possibility of a delay, but will arrive at 6am. Kent & Vyxsin bicker while booking the connector set to arrive in Austria at 5:35.The first five teams arrive on time in Vienna and sprint to the cars. In the car a video of Phil tells them that the winners of this leg will receive two new cars. Teams are instructed to put the car into reverse and use their reverse camera to find the next clue. Written on the ground behind them are the words "Schloss Schallaburg," which is the name of a castle where they will find their next clue. Gary & Mallory seem to be struggling to find the words and lose time before they finally figure it out.Jet & Cord arrive at their car in last place.Zev & Justin, Kent & Vyxsin and Kisha & Jen all get directions to the castle at a gas station. The Globetrotters and Gary & Mallory also get directions from locals. Jet & Cord do the same.Zev & Justin are first to reach the castle. Inside they are given a book with the name of a Viennese library. They depart as several other teams arrive. Kent & Vyxsin are in second, close to Kisha & Jen, with the Gloebtrotters and Gary & Mallory in fourth and fifth.Jet & Cord reach the castle, still in last.Zev & Justin reach the library first and read about this week's Detour: Long Hard Walk or Quick and Easy Meal. In Walk teams must take an analyst's couch from Sigmund Freud office to a nearby university where he lectured. In Meal they go to a ferris wheel and grab two traditional Austrian meals which they must eat in one 12 minute rotation of the wheel.Zev & Justin pick Meal, as do Kisha & Jen. After a few minutes other teams begin to arrive. Gary & Mallory pick Meal. The Globetrotters and Kent & Vyxsin pick Walk.Kisha & Jen get to the ferris wheel first and begin to eat the huge (and primarily fried) plate of food. Zev & Justin are just behind them. Both of the eating teams are struggling at the halfway point. Kisha & Jen just miss finishing in time and head for the other leg of the Detour.Gary & Mallory get to the ferris wheel.Zev & Justin also fail the Detour and head for the other half. Gary & Mallory start their trip.Flight Time & Big Easy grab their couch and head for the University of Vienna. Kent & Vyxsin are a few minutes behind them, with Kisha & Jen a few minutes behind them.With four minutes left Gary & Mallory don't seem all that close to being finished.Jet & Cord finally reach the museum and select Walk.Gary finishes his plate but Mallory can't clean hers. They head for the other Detour.The couch is proving at tough challenge for most of the teams. Jet & Cord see Zev & Justin on their way into the museum, meaning Gary & Mallory are now in last.Flight Time & Big Easy reach the university first and get the next clue: Teams must now drive themselves to Salzburg and find a specific restaurant.Gary & Mallory finally get their couch and start carrying.Kent & Vyxsin finish the Detour in second. Kisha & Jen are just behind them in third.After a decent gap Jet & Cord reach the university in fourth. Zev & Justin got bad advice and unnecessarily carried the couch to the third floor. They are well back of the cowboys in fifth. Gary & Malllory finish the Detour in last place.Zev & Justin pass the cowboys on the highway. Kent & Vyxsin are fighting over directions.The Globetrotters get the next clue first and read about the Road Block. One team members must dress in a chimney sweep's uniform. They climb to the top of a building, clean a chimney, then climb down to the bottom and open a clean out door to get their next clue. Big Easy is chosen.Big Easy completes the Road Block just as Zev & Justin arrive and pick Zev to take on the challenge.The Globetrotters read that teams will now head to this week's Pit Stop, the actual home of the Von Trap family featured in The Sound of Music.Kisha & Jen get to the Road Block just ahead of Kent & Vyxsin. Kishsa and Vyxsin are chosen. Zev finishes his cleaning as Kisha and Vyxsin get to the roof. Zev & Justin leave after getting some directions from locals.Flight Time & Big Easy stop and ask a cab driver for directions.Kisha and Vyxsin complete the Road Block together and head out in third and fourth.Jet & Cord get to the Road Block clue and Jet volunteers.The Globetrotters appear to have trouble with directions and are caught on the road by Zev & Justin, who reach Phil in first and win the cars.Flight Time & Big Easy are somewhat disappointed to reach Phil in second.Jet finishes his Road Block just as Gary & Mallory arrive. Gary volunteers and the cowboys leave.Kisha & Jen are having direction issues.Kent & Vyxsin reach Phil in third, their best finish this season.The cowboys catch up with Kisha & Jen on the road.Kisha & Jen are fourth and Jet & Cord end up fifth.Later we see Gary & Mallory arrive in sixth. But Phil tells them this week was a non-elimination leg and they are still alive. | non fiction | train | imdb | null |
tt0032553 | The Great Dictator | During a battle in the last months of World War I, the protagonist, an unnamed soldier (known only in the credits as A Jewish Barber), is fighting for the Central Powers in the army of the fictional nation of Tomainia, comically blundering through the trenches in combat scenes. Upon hearing a fatigued pilot pleading for help, the Barber attempts to rescue the exhausted officer, Commander Schultz. The two board Schultz's nearby airplane and fly off, barely escaping enemy ground fire. Schultz reveals that he is carrying important dispatches that could win the war. However, the plane loses fuel and crashes in a marsh. They both survive, but the Barber suffers from memory loss. As medics arrive, Commander Schultz gives them the dispatches, but is told that the war has just ended and Tomainia lost.Years later, as the Barber is released from the hospital, Adenoid Hynkel (also played by Chaplin), the ruthless dictator of Tomainia, has undertaken to persecute Jews throughout his country, aided by Secretary of the Interior and Minister of Propaganda Garbitsch and Minister of War Herring. The symbol of Hynkel's fascist regime is the "double cross", and at times, when he's excited or angry, Hynkel speaks in a macaronic parody of the German language. During his first speech, his Tomainian is "translated" by an overly concise English-speaking news voice-over.The Barber, unaware of Hynkel's rise to power, returns to his barbershop in the Jewish ghetto. When he opposes the painting of the word "Jew" on his barber shop by storm troopers, he flees from them, aided in part by his neighbor, Hannah, who knocks some of them unconscious with a frying pan. The Barber is nearly lynched by a gang of storm troopers, but Schultz, now a high-ranking officer in Hynkel's regime, intervenes. Though surprised to see the man who saved his life at the end of the war is not an Aryan, as he previously imagined, he returns the favor by ordering the storm troopers to take no action against him or Hannah, even when she throws an object at a storm trooper's head.Hynkel relaxes his stance on Tomainian Jewry in an attempt to woo a Jewish financier into giving him a loan to support his regime. Egged on by Garbitsch, Hynkel has become obsessed with the idea of being Dictator of the World, dancing at one point with a large, inflatable globe, to the tune of the Prelude to Act I of Richard Wagner's Lohengrin.Hynkel plans to invade the neighboring country of Osterlich (Austria), and needs the loan to finance the invasion. When the Jewish financier refuses due to the persecution of the Jews, Hynkel reinstates and intensifies his persecution of the Jews contrary to Garbitsch's advice. When Schultz, who is empathetic to the Jews, voices his objection to the pogrom, Hynkel denounces Schultz as a supporter of democracy and a traitor, and orders him placed in a concentration camp. The Barber evades storm troopers who have heard of the arrest by hiding on his neighbor Mr. Jaeckel's roof with Hannah, however his shop is burnt down. Schultz flees to the ghetto and begins planning to overthrow the Hynkel regime with Hannah, the Barber and other residents there. Schultz proposes a suicide mission to blow up the palace, the agent will be chosen by a coin in a pudding. However Hannah causes this to be abandoned by placing coins in all the puddings. Later the Ghetto is searched for Schultz. He and the Barber, hiding on the roof, are captured and condemned to the camp.Hynkel is initially opposed by Benzino Napaloni, dictator of Bacteria, in his plans to invade Osterlich, and even plans to declare war. However just after he signs a declaration of war he receives a call from Napaloni. He invites him and his wife to his palace and a seeing of a military show to impress him with a display of military might and psychological warfare, but this ends in disaster. After some friction, a comedic food fight between the two leaders, and a deal between the two leaders on which Hynkel immediately reneges, his invasion proceeds. Hannah and others from the Ghetto had emigrated to Osterlich to escape Hynkel, but once again they find themselves living under Hynkel's regime.Schultz and the Barber escape from the camp wearing Tomainian uniforms. Border guards mistake the Barber for Hynkel, to whom he is nearly identical in appearance. Conversely, Hynkel, on a duck-hunting trip, falls overboard and is mistaken for the Barber and arrested by his own soldiers. The Barber, now forced by circumstance to assume Hynkel's identity, is taken to the capital of Osterlich to make a victory speech. Garbitsch, in introducing "Hynkel" to the throngs, decries free speech and argues for the subjugation of the Jews. The barber then makes a rousing speech, reversing Hynkel's antisemitic policies and declaring that Tomainia and Osterlich will now be a free nation and a democracy. He calls for humanity in general to break free from dictatorships and use science and progress to make the world better instead.Hannah, now an impoverished laborer in a vineyard in Osterlich, hears the barber's speech on the radio, and is amazed when the Barber addresses her directly: "Hannah, can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up, Hannah. The clouds are lifting. The sun is breaking through. We are coming out of the darkness into the light. We are coming into a new world, a kindlier world, where men will rise above their hate, their greed and brutality. Look up, Hannah. The soul of man has been given wings, and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow into the light of hope, into the future, the glorious future that belongs to you, to me, and to all of us. Look up, Hannah. Look up!" As she rises, Mr. Jaeckel asks Hannah, "Hannah, did you hear that?" The girl silences him with a gesture, saying, "Listen," and turns her face, radiant with joy and hope, toward the sunlight | comedy, anti war, cult, violence, good versus evil, humor, satire | train | imdb | null |
tt0039017 | Terror by Night | An off-screen narrator tells of the deadly curse carried by the fabulous "Star of Rhodesia" diamond, then takes us to a London coffin-maker's, where Vivian Vedder (Renee Godfrey) arranges a special coffin for her late mother. She'll be taking it on the 7 PM train to Edinburgh. At Euston Station, Roland Carstairs (Geoffrey Steele) meets Holmes (Basil Rathbone), whom he has hired to guard his mother Lady Margaret (Mary Forbes), who has already boarded the train back home to Scotland. Actually, he's there to guard the Star of Rhodesia, which she has owned for many years, but was the object of an attempted theft when Lady Margaret wore it at a royal function. Holmes is certain the thieves will try again. Apparently, Scotland Yard agrees, as Inspector Lestrade (Dennis Hoey) is also taking the trip. The train begins to pull out, and Watson (Nigel Bruce) and his old army friend Major Duncan-Bleek (Alan Mowbray) barely manage to board. They had bumped into each other, and forgotten the time as they reminisced. Carstairs brings Holmes to his compartment, where his mother is skeptical about the aid of a "policeman", but she lets Holmes examine the Star.While Holmes, Watson, Duncan-Bleek, and Lady Margaret are in the dining car, Carstairs falls onto the floor of his compartment. Lestrade hears the thud, but finds the door to the Carstairs compartment locked. Holmes arrives and has the attendant (Billy Bevan) open it. They find Carstairs dead and the box that had contained the Star empty. The body shows no wounds aside from a tiny spot of blood, but Holmes declares it's murder, since a thief arriving right after Carstairs died of natural causes is too improbable. Watson, unimpressed with Lestrade's plodding, decides to try questioning suspects himself. (Thus suspects are those who occupy compartments in the same car, as the attendant was at the door to the leading car, and the trailing car is the locked luggage van.) Watson gets nowhere at all in his attempt with cranky William Kilbane (Frederick Worlock), a professor of mathematics. However, when he questions Alfred Shallcross (Gerald Hamer), he gets an immediate confession. Watson summons Holmes and Lestrade, only to learn that Alfred was confessing to having stolen a teapot from the hotel where he stayed in London. Lestrade is not amused, but neither he nor Holmes can get any more cooperation from Prof. Kilbane than Watson did. Later, Holmes tells Lestrade that this puts him in mind of Colonel Sebastian Moran, master jewel thief and amateur mathematician.Holmes is nearly pushed off the train by an unseen assailant, but he manages to hang on to the outside and eventually climb back aboard. He and Watson enter the luggage van and convince the guard there to let them examine the coffin. It has the remains of an elderly woman in the top part, but also a false bottom that could have hidden the murderer. The two of them, plus Lestrade and Duncan-Bleek pay a call on Vivian, who admits that she was hired to take the coffin to Edinburgh. She knew about the compartment in the coffin, but was being paid. Holmes asks if her employer was Duncan-Bleek, but she says she never saw him before. Watson is shocked that Holmes would subject his old friend to that kind of suspicion. Later, Holmes reveals that he's had the real Star all along, and Lestrade takes it. Back in the luggage van, Holmes and Watson discover that the guard has been murdered. He also has a tiny spot of blood, but this time they find the tiny gelatin dart that delivered poison. Unlike the case of Carstairs, there hadn't been enough time for it to dissolve in the wound.Holmes's assailant, a man named Sands (Skelton Knaggs) renders the attendant unconscious so he can visit Duncan-Bleek unobserved. He reports how he dealt with the guard and the attendant, and turns the diamond he stole over to the Major, who knows it's the fake planted by Holmes. He has Sands club Lestrade and grab the real gem, then kills Sands with his poison-dart airgun. He leaves, and Holmes and Watson arrive to revive Lestrade. The train stops just across the Scottish border, where an Inspector MacDonald (Boyd Davis) and his men board. MacDonald, claiming jurisdiction because he's from the Edinburgh police, has them all move to the dining room to conduct his investigation.Holmes tells MacDonald that Duncan-Bleek is Moran, but the latter pulls the emergency brake cord, and a fight in darkness ensues. It ends with Holmes triumphant, and the vanquished tangled up in his coat. MacDonald takes the prisoner off the train, which starts off for Edinburgh. Holmes points out to Watson that Moran lies unconscious on the floor. As he revives, he's startled not to find himself in the company of MacDonald, who was actually his accomplice. However, Holmes realized that (mainly because he knew the real MacDonald), and the man the fake police took off the train was Lestrade. Meanwhile, Lestrade has untangled himself, pulled a gun on his supposed captors, and arrested them. Moran wants to take solace in the fact that Holmes doesn't have the Star, but of course the detective has pulled yet another switch, and reveals the real diamond. | murder | train | imdb | Good film of the splendid Sherlock Holmes-Basil Rathbone and his loyal companion Watson-Nigel Bruce series including a first-range nasty , a Doctor Moriarty's disciple , named Sebastian Moran.
When the fabulous Star of Rhodesia diamond is robbed on a train bound from London to Scotland and the son of its owner is killed , Holmes and Watson help Inspector Lestrade - a likable Dennis Hoey as botcher as Nigel Bruce - which of his suspect fellow passengers is culprit.
Who's the killer and the thief?.Penultime outing in the Rathbone / Bruce Sherlock Holmes series with the master sleuth up a fabled jewel robbing and against a series of murder on a London to Edinburgh train .
Holmes must discover the thief murderous and the responsible ultimately results to be the Colonel Sebastian Moran , an arch-villain and Dr Moriarty's hoodlum.This whodunit film has a fine atmosphere , it's in black and white with lights and shades that originate a suspenseful setting aboard the train .
There's not a second of screen time wasted in telling the tale of the Star of Rhodesia diamond that is stolen aboard an express train--and, of course, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and Insepctor LeStrade are all aboard the train, having been advised that someone is going to make an attempt to steal it.This low-budget Universal entry is easily one of the best of the Universal features co-starring BASIL RATHBONE and NIGEL BRUCE.
Rathbone is completely suave and relaxed as Holmes, less snappy than usual in the way he treats Watson and much more likable in the role than he has been in other entries.The plot abounds with the usual assortment of suspicious characters, but of all the supporting players ALAN MOBRAY is the one who stands out as the man who befriends Watson.Despite the low-budget trimmings and overuse of miniatures to show a train racing through the fog at night, the story is taut and the whole affair is intriguing enough to keep you watching until the unusual ending--where a double twist is completely unexpected.Highly enjoyable Holmes adventure, well-paced and entertaining..
Good, solid direction from Holmes veteran Roy William Neill, quality, reliable acting from leads Rathbone and Bruce, exceptional character acting from Alan Mowbry and company, and a zippy pace connected to a script that is able to develop the plot and suspense despite the length of the film being just under an hour.
This Basil Rathbone-Sherlock Holmes adventure involves a bunch of suspects on a train, each looking guilty making the viewer undecided who really is the culprit who trying to steal a precious diamond, "The Star Of Rhodesia."With all these suspects (who are fun to watch), there a number of twists every five minutes to keep us all guessing.
One of the many Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce appearing as Holmes and Watson, "Terror By Night" is distinguished by a good, atmospheric setting on a train.
Much of the plot itself is fairly routine, but the setting and a good climax make this a worthwhile film.The action takes place on a train heading from London to Edinburgh, with Holmes being employed to protect a valuable diamond.
The setting also allows Bruce, as the well-meaning but bumbling Dr. Watson, to have some of his best moments as he earnestly but unsuccessfully tries to help with the investigation.While unspectacular, most fans of the Holmes series should find "Terror By Night" pleasant and entertaining..
This means with a meagre "running" time of 57 minutes I should have had 85.5 thrills, and does this astounding feat of mathematic calculation make me Colonel Sebastian Moran?!I've always enjoyed this penultimate Rathbone Holmes film, although my daughter (Chunky Chops) has always been rather bored by it and only ever watches it again because we've usually seen the previous twelve outings in quick succession.
One of the better entries in the Basil Rathbone Holmes series, with Watson and Inspector Lestrade bumbling more comically than usual and all the action set aboard a moving train.
Music is by Hans Salter and cinematography by Maury Gertsman.Plot finds Sherlock Holmes (Rathbone) hired to protect Lady Margaret Carstairs (Mary Forbes) and her precious diamond, the Star of Rhodesia.
Holmes and his trusty companion Dr. Watson (Bruce), will need to keep their wits about them.The thirteenth and penultimate film in the Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes series, Terror by night is a considerable improvement on the one before it, Pursuit to Algiers.
The passengers of a train running from London to Edinburgh endure TERROR BY NIGHT when a murderer goes after a fabulous gem.Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce yet again step into the personas of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic characters, Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson.
Chubby Billy Bevan is a friendly train attendant, and Boyd Davis does well with his small role as a gruff Scots Police Inspector.There must always be eccentrics in every Sherlock Holmes film, and this one is well served by imperious Mary Forbes as an insufferable noblewoman; cranky Frederick Worlock as a most displeased mathematics professor; Gerald Hamer & Janet Murdock as a very nervous married couple; and little Skelton Knaggs as a creepy killer.Movie mavens will recognize marvelous old Sir C.
Holmes and Dr. Watson are hired to keep an eye on the "Star of Rhodesia"; a most precious jewel that travels from London to Edinburgh, along with its owner, Inspector Lestrade from Scotland Yard and a whole carriage of oddly behaving suspects.
On the other hand however, thanks to a couple of effective and innovating elements, avid fans of the Sherlock Holmes cycle could righteously claim that "Terror by Night" is a very underrated and actually one of the best film in the series!
Penultimate Rathbone Holmes film sees Sherlock and Watson on a train trying to prevent the theft of a priceless diamond and figure out who murdered the son of the diamond's owner.
A sinister and suspicious lot of passengers surround them in their carriage and before long the man is dead and the gem stolen.With Lestrade (who just happens to be there) and Watson (who almost misses the train) to 'help', Holmes views each and every passenger with suspicion as the Scotch Express (the what?) rockets through the dark countryside.
Terror By Night takes most of the intriguing elements of the previous Holmes film (Pursuit to Algiers), leaves out the extraneous bits which hampered that particular film, cranks up the suspense, and roars out of the station on the rails of a complex and entertaining mystery.The film follows Holmes and his friend/chronicler Watson on a train voyage, where Holmes has been commissioned to guard a precious stone.
Dennis Hoey also puts in the last of his six performances as Inspector Lestrade here, and contributes his usual warm, if perpetually inept (the character, not the actor), presence.Overall, I'd rate Terror By Night as one of the top five films in the Universal Holmes series.
Terror By Night is one of the better Basil Rathbone Sehrlock Holmes movies.In this one, Holmes and Dr Watson are assigned to a case involving a diamond, The Star of Rhodesia to prevent it from being stolen while on the train.
The only fault I noticed was the exterior shots of the train which showed different ones, including a model and non-British trains.As usual, Rathbone is joined by Nigel Bruce as Watson and the rest of the cast includes Alan Mowbray and Dennis Hoey.Terror By Night is an excellent mystery and they certainly don't make them like this anymore.Rating: 4 stars out of 5..
Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) are hired by Roland Carstairs to travel with him and his mother on a train from England to Edinburgh.
Holmes(Basil Rathbone) and his faithful sideman Dr. Watson(Nigel Bruce)are hired to guard against the theft of Lady Margaret Carstairs'(Mary Forbes)precious "Star of Rhodesia", a diamond huge enough to choke a pony.
However, the myriad suspicious characters extend beyond those few to a married couple who are obviously concealing a secret, a laconic baggage car attendant, the conductor, and the dining car steward; if they are aboard, they are a suspect.The eleventh in Universal Studios's Sherlock Holmes series, "Terror by Night" was directed by dependable Roy William Neill from an original story written by Frank Gruber using snippets from a few Arthur Conan Doyle stories.
Another great moment is its conclusion, almost reminiscent to how author Agatha Christie ("Murder on the Orient Express") or famed movie director Alfred Hitchcock ("The Lady Vanishes") might have handled a train mystery such as this.Being another Holmes entry to have fallen into public domain, TERROR BY NIGHT, available on video cassette and DVD formats from various distributors, presented on numerous public broadcast or cable television stations over the years, should not disappoint any devotees of the series, especially when shown from time to time on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: March 8, 2004) or anywhere else.
Inspector Lestrade (Dennis Hoey) also suspects a second attempt to steal the diamond and has come aboard with a rather transparent cover story about going to Scotland to do some fishing.Holmes must figure out which of the passengers or train crew members is Moran before they reach Edinburgh.
Having seen all of the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films of the 40's on my DVD collection, which I highly recommend, Terror By Night is one of the best of the series.
As serials go, the Sherlock Holmes films featuring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce range from 'really rather clever' to 'absolutely tedious', and this one, a kind of variation on Agatha Christie's 'Murder on the Orient Express', comes somewhere in the middle.An expensive jewel goes missing (shades of the Conan Doyle tale 'The Blue Carbuncle') while our heroes (and Lestrade, who says he is going fishing but we never really find out about the Scotland Yard business he is really on), travel from London to Edinburgh alongside a crusty professor, a brusque spinster, a nervous couple, and Watson's close friend Duncan (he plays for the Gentlemen at Lord's).All are suspects but the protagonist can be guessed fairly early on.
"Terror by Night" was made in 1946 and is a modern-day Sherlock Holmes film starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.
Watson is especially dumb in this one, and the script has built into it a comic scene between him and a train passenger he comes up against.What these films always had going for them was atmosphere, interesting acting, and of course, Rathbone, whose age is starting to show in this one.
The plot for this one see Holmes once again employed to help protect a valuable jewel (with a violent history, natch) from being stolen (Pearl of Death, anyone?), the gimmick being that almost the entire action takes board on a steam train travelling from London to Edinburgh.As always, Rathbone and Bruce are excellent as Conan Doyle's classic crime-fighting duo, but they are about the only good thing in this otherwise disappointing mystery: an uninspired script introduces plenty of characters as suspects and umpteen red herrings, but does very little of interest with them, and the action unfolds in a predictable manner, with several of the film's key 'twists' being obvious long before their reveal.This film also features one of the worst performances of the entire series, courtesy of Renee Godfrey as obligatory babe with a secret, Vivian Vedder; the lady might be stunning to look at, but my god she's awful in this film, every line delivered in an unconvincing accent that ranges from mid-west American to unspecific European, but never once sounding like a Londoner, as intended.5.5 out of 10, but not good enough for me to round my rating up to a 6..
Along with "Rome Express" (1932) and "The Lady Vanishes" (1938), this late entry in the famous Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes series is a remarkable achievement, given its tiny budget and short running time.A classic example of 'less is more', director Roy William Neill keeps the tension cranked high and the pace taut, with a splendid cast of character actors and an admirable special effects team that creates the illusion of the action really being on a British express train of the mid 1940s.The use of back projection, especially in the brilliantly staged sequence where Holmes is kicked outside of the speeding train by the killer, is truly admirable.
It's no Orient Express but the film is reasonably interesting with Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) on hand to guard a valuable jewel.
This last-but-one of the Rathbone&Bruce 'Sherlock Holmes' adaptation, IMO, is neither a typical one nor one of the best entries in the series - in a whole train full of suspects, the huge diamond 'Star of Rhodesia', is being stolen, recovered and stolen again, and no less than three people are murdered for it; and, since Professor Moriarty by now seems to be 'finally' dead, there has to be a substitution for him for a battle of wits with Sherlock Holmes: the infamous jewel thief Sebastian Moran...Now, this is admittedly a REAL whodunit, because we have to guess until the last moment who is this Sebastian Moran - but how can we, with not only so many red herrings sticking out of every compartment door, but also without a really consistent story?
Holmes, however, solves the case triumphantly and cunningly, as ever (and once again foreseeing ALL the traps the 'Moriarty successor' may have laid for him); but even at the end, it doesn't look really convincing to a classic whodunit fan...Anyway, there's no denying that this film, too, has got its special features that makes it worth watching, no matter how much it confuses us: there's the claustrophobic atmosphere of the train (some Agatha Christie feeling here...), there are some genuinely creepy and suspenseful moments - and there's more humor than we usually find in a 'Sherlock Holmes' movie (once again, chiefly thanks to our good friend Dr. Watson)!
Roy William Neil once again directs Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce as Sherlock Holmes & Doctor Watson in this film using elements from previous stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Terror by Night is the thirteenth of the Sherlock Holmes film series to star Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce and was directed by Roy William Neill.
Now Holmes and Watson have to find the murderer before the train makes its final stop.The movie did show a sort of lack of emotion in the character of Lady Margaret, although it was part of the plot, as it is commented by the other characters in the movie, it didn't go well with me the viewer, although death is expected at some time, the death of Roland was a turn off for me as it was not expected at all.The movie's twist and turns are worth seeing although the movie is not as captivating or as fun as Pursuit to Algiers, it did show good writing and direction in the part of Frank Gruber and William Neill.It is a nice DVD to get.www.lagsreviews.com.
There were fourteen films in the series featuring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson.
(You may wish you could exit the train before this tedious mystery grinds to a halt!)I've seen about half of the Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone, and I'd say most are fun to watch and some are very good.
Terror By Night was one of the last of the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes mysteries that Universal Studios made.
It finds Holmes and Watson escorting the fabulous Star of Rhodesia diamond and its owners, mother and son Mary Forbes and Geoffrey Steele on the train from London to Edinburgh.A whole section of the film has obviously been edited out because there is reference to an earlier attempt to steal the fabulous jewel.
Terror by Night (1946)** 1/2 (out of 4) Unlucky number thirteen doesn't turn out too bad for Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) as the duo find themselves on a train from London to Edinburgh where they must protect a priceless diamond.
It's a "Sherlock Holmes" crime-drama starring Basil Rathbone as everyone's favourite, Victorian-era, super-sleuth.On a speeding night-train heading from London to Edinburgh, Scotland - The priceless "Star of Rhodesia" diamond goes missing - And it's now up to the dynamic duo of Holmes and Watson to sift through a bevy of suspicious characters in order to recover this precious gem.Filled to overflowing with brilliant deductions, shadowed mystery, and deadly intrigue - "Terror By Night" moves along at a very brisk pace with its brief, 60-minute running time..
Scotland Yard detective Inspector Lestrade(Dennis Hoey)is on board also assigned to watch over the safety of Carstairs and her diamond, assisting Holmes as they pursue the ones responsible for the murders as the moving train heads on it's destination to Edinburgh.
Basil Rathbone impresses as Holmes and Nigel Bruce is amusing as Watson
even if the character is rather bumbling.
Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are back as the detecting duo Holmes and Watson, in Terror by Night, the 13th of 14 films starring the pairing.
Hired by Roland Carstairs to prevent the theft of the Star of Rhodesia on a train between London and Edinburgh Holmes and Watson have their hands full with lots of potential suspects.
Sherlock Holmes is aboard a night train from London to Edinburgh, guarding a famous jewel, the Star of Rhodesia.
Terror by Night begins in London at Euston station as the worlds foremost detective Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) & his trusty assistant Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) board a train to Edinburgh.
It's not long before Roland has been found murdered & the Star stolen, Holmes, Watson & Lestrade are on the case...Produced & directed by Roy William Neill Terror by Night was the last but one in a series of Holmes films that totals fourteen made between 1939 & 1946 to star Rathbone & Bruce as Holmes & Watson. |
tt0075467 | Az ötödik pecsét | The Fifth Seal is a study in depersonalization. Set in Budapest, 1944 towards the end of World War II, it tells the story of a group of friends hanging out in a bar owned by Béla (Ferenc Bencze), drinking, talking and having as good a time as they can, trying to stay out of trouble. Miklós (Lajos Öze) a watchmaker, László (László Márkus) a book seller and János (Sándor Horváth) a carpenter, are one night joined by a fifth man (István Dégi) who asks an innocent question:"Just imagine you are about to die, but you will be reincarnated in to one of two people; a slave or the rich master. The slave suffers under the master. He has his tongue and an eye removed and his wife and child are killed. He goes on living knowing he is a good person, as he never committed such appalling, sadistic acts on another like his master has done. The rich master has no moral qualms about it at all. He doesn't think what he did was wrong; the slave needed to be punished. You have the choice, whether to be a poor and righteous slave or be a rich and corrupt master."This hypothetical question changes their lives | philosophical | train | imdb | Great dialogs, great scenes and all about You....
One of the greatest newage hungarian writer Santa Ferenc's book is digging very very deep into the human being and the human nature.
Fabry, the director chose the best actors, and made one on the best hungarian movie.
You have to see it more than few times, to pick up everything.
Its all about life, about war, with amazing questions you cant even answer...You must read the book!!!egy csodálatos film..
An Intriguing and Universal Film.
What hypothetical question could be compelling enough to spawn an entire film?
I watched this movie because I wanted to know.The Good: The hypothetical is really very compelling.
Furthermore, it is discussed in a way that reveals its subtlety rather than coming back to the same sticking point over and over.
The characters in this film are vivid and well portrayed.
The setting is also surprisingly rich.
This is important because a lot of this movie takes place in the same place.
I was somewhat worried that this movie would just be people sitting around a table talking.
That is more or less the case, but it works out nicely.
The proceedings are intellectually and spatially dynamic.
I was also a bit worried that I wouldn't really be able to understand the film without having the proper cultural context.
This turned out not to be much of an issue.
I may have missed some things, but you can enjoy this film knowing only that its set in some country that is at war.
The Bad: A large part of this movie is people sitting around a table talking.
Like I said, I found this to be interesting, but it isn't particularly exciting.
It isn't inconceivable that some people might find this movie to be boring.
I should also mention that I found the final act, a drastic departure from the rest of the film, to be contrived.
Overall: This is an interesting movie.
Stark and intellectually engaging, the film is surprisingly powerful and surprisingly universal..
The Fifth Seal.
This film takes place in Budapest during the German occupation of Hungary toward the end of World War 2.
As it so happens, four men are sitting at a table in a bar when a stranger hobbles in and asks to join them.
After learning that the man was a soldier who was wounded during his service the talk subsequently takes a philosophical turn when a watchmaker named "Miklós Auricular" (Lajos Öze) tells a story and then asks a philosophical question which haunts each of these men the rest of the night.
The question, essentially, is whether it would be better to live as a slave and endure severe abuse but have a clear conscience or to live as an abusive slave owner and have no conscience at all.
Although they each reach various conclusions their beliefs and values are soon put to the test with surprising results.
Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a deep but rather dark film made even more interesting by the historical context involving the Russian offensive into Hungary.
Also worth mentioning is the fact that this film won the Golden Prize at the 10th Moscow International Film Festival along with being nominated for a Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1977.
That being said, I thought it was a good movie overall and for that reason I have rated it accordingly.
Above average..
I really can't describe the joy of discovering this movie.
A unique experience that combines art, meaning and an exceptional technique of cinematography.
The depth on the characters build up, the unbeliavable script and the absolute rhytm makes this movie a total monument in what the art of cinema stands for.
I really suggest you to watch this film.
The feelings and the tense which brings to the viewer cannot be described.
A true masterpiece from the titles of the beginning to the last scene!.
Excellent painting about the dictatorships work out.
*** In 1944 - during a WWII - a fascism regime has came into power in Budapest.
Although the hard circumstances few men come to drink and spend every evenings in a boozer together to speak about their common acquaintances and the proper and finest making of the fresh calf's meat.
They are Mr. Gyuricza, the watchmaker, Mr. Kiraly, the book agent, Mr. Kovacs, the carpenter and Bela colleague, the innkeeper.
One day an unknown photographer come to join them exactly when Gyurizca put a question in his usual satirical method to the company: what if they could rebirth and choose between the roles of the rich tyrant and the tortured slave who's still honorable.
That time they don't know yet that this theoretic question must be answered very soon in a real torture room.
***This movie paints excellent picture how the dictatorship has worked in deed and how the regime has caught and changed the common people into something they never would became.
It's not a 1984 like we've seen that in Orwell's powerful but mostly utopian vision, neither it's not really a V for Vendetta which is Hollywood's romantic Zorro-like dream about a totalitarian society.
It's the story of the nameless people, the nobody who has the power at will, but no will to use their power.
The director, Zoltan Fabri handles the characters properly.
The dialogs are great and the filming is amazing.
Some people may say it's dark but I think it has more then bright light to show how the regime has manipulated the common people who lived in the country.
They didn't print any handout against the regime.
They wouldn't explode anything.
They just would live in the country.
They were hazardous for the regime.
Once they got their accordance and reason, they got the power and could not be stopped anymore.
This is what the regime never let to happen.I think that the main oppressor character (formed by Zoltan Latinovics - in my opinion he was the one of the greatest actors who has ever lived) has right.'It's tiny issue when somebody drop a bomb to a party house.
Some paints things to the walls.
Some shoot few friend of ours that's also a tiny issue.
Because we are going to catch them and hang up or shoot them.
Before or after but finally they will be all dead for sure.
So they are all tiny issues.
So they are all tiny issues.
The remaining ones matter!
Whose don't explode bomb, don't paint or anything.
They live among us.
They are the mass.
We may have some real problem with them.'Fascism or communism.
Doesn't matter.
Both has followed the same overwhelming cliché what Ferenc Santa (the writer) put so effectively into his characters' mouth.
'These four men have to learn that you really have the right to tell them that their wife is a whore or beat them as you wish.
They must memorize that they can do nothing but you can do anything!
Keep them in doubts.
Let them fear, including the innocents and criminals...
so you will beat them on a pedagogic basis.'I'm wondering that this movie could be created during the 70s of Hungary (for the readers are not native Hungarians, we have a communist regime until 1989).
But I'm quite sure that the oppressors of that time didn't recognize themselves in this mirror as they acted right after 1956 in the darkest years of the communism.
Maybe Mr. Gyuricza, the watchmaker said properly.
'The tyrant was sure that he is the best ruler in world because he acts according to the morality of the age and he has right reason.'One more thing: in my opinion this movie precisely open up the sad fact that almost all dictatorships have left shame in the nameless survivors' soul for something, to hardly let them speak and trust again to each other.
It's one of the oppressors' well crafted advantage.In total: Excellent movie.
Deep and touching.
Good acting.
Honorable question.
What is your choice would be?I can recommend this anyone who wish to know more about that psychology of the theme.
Unfortunately the DVD release I got has got only Hungarian language.
I hope that some dubs or subtitles are available somewhere for other languages to show this great movie for a greater audience..
Amazing.
Would you rather be a tyrant or his victim?
Accidentally, characters start this conversation.
Soon, they will have to choose their roles for real.Seemingly boring typical evening in a bar turns wrong with the sudden arrival of the Arrow Cross (Hungarian gestapo).
Our heroes are a typical mix of ordinary people with no interest in big (war) events.
But someone's overheard their apparent antipathy for the regime and now they will have to prove on which side they are.Perfect play, almost a piece de theatre.
Forces you to think from the first time the difficult question is asked.
Then, scene-by-scene gets better and better until the end.
Stays in your head for long.
Could be easily interpreted as a hidden criticism of the communist regime back in 70's.
Absolutely timeless and always actual.
A masterpiece..
A masterpiece..
Best Hungarian movie of the 20th century.
When i first watched this movie, i was 16, and i was very impressed.
In my opinion this movie is the best Hungarian movie which was made in the 20th century.
I saw this movie a couple of times and i read the book as well.
It is strange, i enjoyed the book as well, but i enjoyed the movie a bit more.
If you didn't saw this movie yet, and you like slower philosophical movies, go and watch it, you wont regret...
I think i like this movie the most because i think the same way as the author of the book did.
In my opinion, if you would be able to choose between a life of an emperor and a slave, no one would choose the slave.
No matter how hard his/her life was before.
And as Gyuricza said in the movie, if you tell that you would choose the slave, you are a liar....
Big question about morality.
Who would you like to be: Tomóceusz Katatiki (slave-holder) or Gyugyu (slave)?
This question pops up at a casual meeting between regulars in a bar.
Everybody tries to figure out his own answer.
Meanwhile, the historical events unfold and the characters has to make their real choice in real life.A slow-paced, dialogue driven movie based on a book.
Characters played by top actors under good director.
Őze Lajos, playing one of the main character, has a really memorable acting here.
Music also matches the mood, a little bit grotesque made by a mechanical device, which we can observe at the beginning of the movie.
The visuals are usually dark, there are some references and symbols.
One of the most noteworthy visual reference is when a Hieronymus Bosch painting (The Garden of Earthly Delights) comes to life.It's a must see movie from Hungary. |
tt0437800 | Akeelah and the Bee | Akeelah Anderson, an 11-year-old spelling enthusiast, attends Crenshaw Middle School, a predominantly black school in South Los Angeles. She lives with her widowed mother Tanya, her older sister Kiana, her older brothers Devon and Terrence, and her infant niece. Her principal Mr. Welch suggests that she sign up for the Crenshaw Schoolwide Spelling Bee. She follows his advice and wins. Soon after, Dr. Joshua Larabee, a visiting English professor and Mr. Welch's friend from college, tests Akeelah and decides that she is good enough to compete in the National Spelling Bee. Nevertheless, Dr. Larabee declines to coach her because she is rude to him. As a result, Akeelah studies on her own to prepare for the district spelling bee. Although Akeelah misspells her word during the final round of the bee, she qualifies for the regional bee when Kiana catches the other finalist cheating. Akeelah also meets and befriends Javier Mendez, a 12-year-old Mexican American boy and fellow speller. Javier invites her to join the spelling club at his Woodland Hills middle school.
At Woodland Hills, Akeelah meets Dylan Chiu, a Chinese American boy who had won second place at the past two national spelling bees. Contemptuous, he asks her to spell "xanthosis". When she starts with a "z", he tells her she needs a coach. At the conclusion of the spelling club meeting, Javier invites Akeelah to his birthday party. At the party, Akeelah nearly beats Dylan in Scrabble. The boy is reprimanded by his father for nearly losing to "a little black girl". After the party, Tanya is depressed over her husband's death and concerned about her daughter's grades and frequent truancy. As she finds out about Akeelah going alone to Woodland Hills, she subsequently forbids Akeelah from participating in the upcoming state bee. To circumvent this prohibition, Akeelah forges her deceased father's signature on the consent form and secretly studies with Dr. Larabee. During the state bee, Tanya comes inside and interrupts her daughter before she can spell her word. Tanya relents after a side discussion with Dr. Larabee and Mr. Welch. Javier protects Akeelah from disqualification by stalling until she can return. Dylan, Javier and Akeelah advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
As Christmas approaches, Akeelah goes out to buy Dr. Larabee a present, but when she meets him, he reveals that he is quitting being her coach because she reminds him of his deceased daughter Denise. Instead, he gives Akeelah 5,000 flashcards to study. Without her coach, rejected by her best friend Georgia, and feeling the pressure from her neighborhood residents to make them proud, Akeelah loses her motivation. However, Tanya tells her that if she looked around her, she would realize that she has "50,000 coaches". Akeelah recruits her family members, classmates, teachers, friends, and neighbor Derrick T to prepare in earnest. After reuniting with Dr. Larabee, Akeelah goes to Washington, D.C. with him, along with Tanya, Georgia, Mr. Welch, and Devon, unaware that her coach has paid for four of their tickets. Georgia rekindles her friendship with Akeelah after she invites her. During the competition, Akeelah becomes a crowd favorite. After all the other competitors are eliminated, only Dylan and Akeelah remain. The two finalists are allowed a break, during which Akeelah overhears Dylan's father harshly pressuring him to win. Akeelah attempts to intentionally lose by deliberately misspelling "xanthosis". Dylan, knowing that Akeelah knows this word, intentionally misspells it as well. Dylan tells Akeelah that he wants a fair competition, rejecting his father's obsession to win. The two then proceed to spell every word listed by the judges in the hopes of winning the championship together, with Dylan earning a share of it by correctly spelling "logorrhea", much to his father's delight. Akeelah spells the last word on the list, "pulchritude", and the two are declared co-champions amidst a cheering crowd. | cute, sentimental, feel-good | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0046811 | Bugs and Thugs | It begins with Bugs emerging from his hole in a city park, reading the newspaper on his way to the nearest bank, for a withdrawal from his personal depository of carrots. He reads that "Rabbit Season Opens Today" and comments on his pleasure of living in a "more secure" urban environment (miraculously avoiding heavy traffic crossing the street while reading the paper).
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Bugs, Mugsy drives up to the bank, which Rocky invades and robs of an undisclosed sum. Bugs accidentally walks into Rocky and Mugsy's getaway car – mistaking it for a taxi and the giant bags of cash for laundry. Rocky asks Bugs, "How much do ya know?" Bugs fails to realize that he is in the same vehicle as a robber who is asking him what he knows about the hold-up ("Who, me? Oh, I know a lots of things. Two and two is four, Carson City is the capital of Nevada, uh, George Washington was the first President." Rocky responds, "This guy knows too much, Mugsy. We'll take him for a ride") When Bugs becomes too gabby during the ride, Rocky points his gun at him and tells him to shut up. Bugs doesn't stop, so Rocky tells him to "shut up shuttin' up".
Bugs then asks Mugsy to stop at a "nice, clean gas station". Bugs gets out of the car and receives a nickel from the easily fooled Mugsy so he can use the pay telephone to call the police to report Rocky and Mugsy ("Hello, Police Department? I've got the bank robbers. We're on Highway 55, headed west. We're driving a '52 Acme - straight 8 - overhead valves - with California license plates!"), but gets pulled out of the telephone booth and they escape. The gag is that Bugs still holding on to the telephone – and a policeman with a thick Irish accent is pulled out of the telephone wire onto the road ("Operator – we've been disconnected! ooh-hoo...").
Soon, Rocky and Mugsy's car stops in front of a railroad grade crossing protected by a swinging "wigwag" signal warning of the approach of a train. Rocky tells Bugs to let them know when it's clear; Bugs morphs into Mugsy's profile and voice to tell Rocky "OK, Boss!" Bugs tells them to go and the oncoming train proceeds to smash into the car with Rocky and Mugsy still inside.
Bugs is soon forced to fix the car at gunpoint by Rocky. Mugsy was told to button his lip and Mugsy literally buttons his lip. Bugs repairs everything except one tire and says that they're stuck. Rocky tells Bugs that he is the only one stuck and forces Bugs at gunpoint to run alongside the car while holding the right front axle (Rocky tells Mugsy to take the "scenic route"). Soon, they arrive at their cliff house hideout. When Rocky tells Mugsy to take him into the back room and "let'im have it", Bugs easily convinces Mugsy that Rocky meant for him to give Bugs the gun ("Come, come, you heard what the boss said: 'Let me have it'!"). When Mugsy relents, he gets shot by Bugs and stumbles back into the front room and tells Rocky "I let'im have it boss, just like you said," and falls unconscious on top of Rocky, who quickly punches him off.
Rocky heads for the back room to really "let'im have it," but Bugs yells out a fake alarm scream that the police have arrived and surrounded the house. Bugs hides Rocky and Mugsy in the stove when they fall for Bugs' fake alarm. Bugs pretends to be the policeman with an Irish accent and be himself trying to hide Rocky and Mugsy. While "interrogating" himself, Bugs denies hiding them in the stove, turning on the gas heat of the stove and throws a lighted match in the oven to prove his innocence. The stove explodes, and "the policeman", convinced, leaves. Rocky and Mugsy crawl out of the stove, somewhat scorched. Not five seconds after emerging, the real policemen come and, in an exact match of Bugs' previous ruse, asks where Rocky and Mugsy are. When Bugs is about to throw another lighted match into the oven, Rocky and Mugsy quickly run out of the stove and piteously beg the policeman to arrest them. The next day, Bugs becomes a criminal-catching detective talking on the phone, as a member of Detectives Guild: Local 839 (a pun on the cartoonists' union), styling himself as "Bugs Bunny, Private Eyeball – Thugs Thwarted, Arsonists Arrested, Bandits Booked, Forgers Found, Counterfeiters Caught, and Chiselers Chiseled." | psychedelic | train | wikipedia | Clever and well worth seeing to see how Bugs outwits the thugs.
The cartoon does start off slowly, and the secondary characters are a little clichéd, especially the Irish cop.
But it is very clever and funny, with Bugs excellent as usual and the gangster a nice little addition.
Coupled with beautiful artwork, a good script, some funny gags-especially the oven gag- and nice music this really is worth seeing especially to see how Bugs outwits the thugs.
By the way, the title of the short is a very effective touch, and Mel Blanc is stellar yet again.Overall, while a little slow and clichéd, this is clever and funny and compensated by the usual ingredients that make these cartoons so enjoyable.
8/10 Bethany Cox. Bugs and Thugs was one of my favorites as a kid.
Bugs goes to the bank to get a carrot among many in his deposit box.
At the same time, Rocky has robbed it and is about to get in his car with Mugsy as the driver when Bugs comes in first mistaking it for a taxi.
When Rocky comes in with his bags of money, the rabbit at first thinks it's laundry.
He wises up and attempts to call the police at a nearby gas station but is caught by Mugsy before he can complete it.
It all results in one of the funniest police captures in cartoon history!
This was one of my favorites as a little kid and seeing it today on The Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Vol. 1 brought back great memories of watching this on "Bugs Bunny and Friends" which aired every afternoon at 3:30 pm central time on WRBT-TV, Baton Rouge, La.
(It's now WVLA).
Kudos once again to Friz Freling..
My favourite Bugs Bunny episode..
I slightly disagree with other viewers.
I very much enjoyed this episode - even though I've never watched any gangster films!
:-) I thought the jokes were very good, Bugs Bunny is just absolutely fabulous, the episode was exciting (more so than many Looney Tunes episodes) and the quotes were very good.
The animation is subtly good, it is not something to rant on about though.
**SLIGHT SPOILERS** The end part with the policeman is absolutely classic, probably my second favourite Looney Tunes moment EVER (my first favourite was the "The End" scene from "Duck Amuck").
**SLIGHT SPOILERS OVER**.
In this short, Bugs Bunny lives in a city and just when he has dropped by the bank to take out some carrots, he goes into a car belonging to two gangsters, thinking it is a taxi.
He finds himself in quite a lot of danger with these guys, but Bugs always somehow has Plans (often ranging from A- Z) up his sleeve...This episode is partly based on "Racketeer Rabbit" a Bugs Bunny cartoon made a few years before this.
Even though some of the gags are very similar, I prefer this one.I recommend this to anyone who likes Bugs Bunny (even if you do not like it you might as well give it a go), to people who like the idea of a Looney Tunes gangster episode and to people who like clever jokes with just that pinch of slapstick and farce in them.
Enjoy "Bugs and Thugs"!
A very funny but lesser reworking of 'Racketeer Rabbit'.
Having already kidnapped Daffy Duck and Tweety in previous cartoons, gangsters Rocky and Mugsy get out of their depth when they try and take on Bugs Bunny.
Friz Freleng's 'Bugs and Thugs' is an often hilarious cartoon which nevertheless pales in comparison to Freleng's earlier take on a similar scenario, 'Racketeer Rabbit'.
'Bugs and Thugs' climactic routine, which involves Bugs faking a conversation with the law while the gangsters are hidden in an oven, is taken directly from 'Racketeer Rabbit' but performed in a slightly more hurried fashion as if Freleng is already bored with the gag.
'Bugs and Thugs' is still a sufficiently funny and entertaining cartoon but it isn't nearly as handsome or well timed as its predecessor..
bugging the thugs.
Even if you're not totally familiar with gangster movies from the '40s and '50s, "Bugs and Thugs" still comes out quite funny.
When Bugs Bunny accidentally enters a gangster car while crook Rocky is robbing a bank, Rocky decides that Bugs knows too much (e.g., 2+2=4, Carson City is the capital of Nevada, George Washington was our first president), so they take him hostage.
As always, Bugs is ahead of everyone.
But it's not until the end, during a trick involving the cops - Irish, natch - that Bugs shows his true, normal colors.
I probably would have done what Rocky and Mugsy did.It's just always great how the Looney Tunes cartoons played off of the popular culture of their era.
Rocky was probably a parody of James Cagney, and Mugsy just seems to be a big excuse to be dimwitted.
Anyway, it's a really funny cartoon, even if we have to wait a little while until Bugs does his usual stuff..
Classic Bugs.
Bugs and Thugs (1954)*** 1/2 (out of 4) Bugs Bunny jumps into what he thinks is a cab but it turns out to be the car of gangsters Rocky and Mugsy.
The two think Bugs knows too much so they drive him to a cabin where they plan on shooting him but we all know the rabbit is a lot smarter.
This is yet another winning short for Bugs who manages to get involved in some really nice action as well as some great gags.
The gag involving him checking to see if a train is coming is certainly predictable but the laugh is still there.
Another great gag has to do with a gas stove.
Rocky and Mugsy are great characters as well and you can't help but laugh at them..
Not Bad, But Too Many Clichés.
Bugs inadvertently hitches a ride with bank robbers.
They have all the loot in bags which Bugs, at first, thinks is just laundry.
However, he quickly discovers the little guy in the backseat is a crook and the big oaf in front is the driver.They escape, despite being hit head-on by a train, to this little hideaway perched literally on the edge of the cliff.
The house is cool-looking as was the bright red '52 car, by the way.
However most of the gags are so-so, interesting to watch but nothing here to evoke any laugh-out-loud moments.
There were too many clichés, especially the big, dumb second- banana hood and the Irish cop..
"I must be dreamin'.
It couldn't be this easy.".
I always loved it when Looney Tunes parodied the old Warner Bros.
gangster pictures.
In this short, Bugs Bunny gets mixed up with a pair of bank robbers, diminutive Rocky and his dimwitted sidekick Mugsy.
This short is similar in many ways (including a lifted gag involving an oven) to the classic Racketeer Rabbit.
This one has a lot going for it on its own, though.
The music is energetic, the colors are lovely, and the animation is creative and fun.
The peerless Mel Blanc handles all of the voices so you know what kind of quality you'll get there.
The pace is fast and the jokes are very funny.
Bugs is as likable as ever and the two thugs are goofy caricatures you can't help but enjoy..
Shut up shutting up.
Gangsters Rocky and Mugsy are first introduced in the short that has Bugs Bunny getting into the getaway car of the duo by accident when he mistakes it for a cab.
The short is pretty funny, yet Bugs isn't really in the top of his form here.
Still it's worth watching and contains a highly quotable line or two.
The ending is a tad on the weak side however.
It's still the best of the Rocky and Mugsy shorts (they were in two others I believe, but don't quote me on that).
This animated short can be found on disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1.My Grade: B-.
Very Bunny.
I was never too interested in the character of Rocky, he always seemed too one-dimensional and monotone.
Of course this is intentional but I could never excited when a Rocky and Bugs cartoon came on.
He was however great in Daffy's Golden Yeggs.This time around Bugs is taking it easy in the city as Rabbit Season (DUCK SEASON!) is kicking off in the country.
He hails a taxi to go for a cruise but ends up in the backseat of Rocky's getaway car.Seconds later, Rocky has robbed a bank and is using Bugs as a hostage.
Bugs a hostage?
Puh-lease!
He's got more wits and cunning in his baby finger than both Rocky and Mugsy together.Very clever hijinks follow with a very funny ending..
Nice gangster spoof with good Bugs stuff.
Bugs is just wondering out loud how lucky he is to live in the city away from all the rabbit hunters in the country side.
Distracted, he gets into a getaway car thinking it is a taxi and finds himself caught by gangsters who feel he knows too much.Although this is not really a great Bugs Bunny film, it is still a pretty funny cartoon and should be funny to anyone who has seen a single Jimmy Cagney gangster film in their life.
The usual Bugs stuff doesn't come till near the end where Bugs finally gets to play them for the upper hand, but all of it is funny simply because it works as a nice little Bugs film-come-gangster spoof.The main gangster is a great little cliché and works very well indeed.
He is milked for more laughs by having his sidekick be a big dumb gangster not unlike baby bear in Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears.
They play off each other well.
Bugs is good throughout no matter what he does and he is as good as always.Overall, this may not be the usual formula for Bugs Bunny cartoons but it still works as it has that as it's basic foundation but adds a clever little gangster spoof to the mix that will be funny to those familiar enough with that genre to laugh at the little stereotype involved..
Hilarious!.
This Bugs Bunny cartoon is a personal favorite of mine and for good reason.
Besides the very well done animation and superb voice talents from Mel Blanc, the jokes and gags were very funny and pulled off in nice fashion.
Granted, not the best Bugs Bunny cartoon ever made, but a definite classic..
This is one of the best Rocky and Mugsy Cartoons.
This is one of the best Rocky and Mugsy Cartoons.
The first of the 3 known Looney Tunes.This is Mugsy's first Debut.
While Rocky appeared in 2 earlier Looney Tunes before this one.First was one with Daffy and a Golden Egg.And the other involves Tweety and Slyvester.They all have Bugs Bunny in them.This Looney Tune is very memorable.
Has a lot of gags.And the best part is one involving a Stove.This is recommended to all the Bugs Bunny fans.Like one of the top 20 Looney Tunes that exist..
"The capital of Nevada is .
Carson City," Bugs Bunny blabs to a couple Conservative-looking bank professionals near the beginning of the Warner Bros.
animated short, BUGS AND THUGS.
"He knows too much," concludes the lead Acquisitions Banker.
It's already been shown by this point that Bugs is a sharp enough banking services consumer to keep his assets in a safe deposit box, rather than risking exorbitant banking penalties and fees, tellers' errors, identity theft, Russian hackers, and worse by maintaining a "bank account." When the bank's money managers realize that Bugs' financial savvy is paired with a detailed knowledge of the Seats of Government Power, they conclude that Bugs is the sort of person who can upset their applecart.
The remainder of this cartoon consists of a virtual fight-to-the-death between Bugs and the financiers who've kidnapped him.
Though Bugs is able to twice maneuver them into a gas chamber (where the worst Public Enemies were Euthanized during the 1900s), the Big Money pair get off on technicalities both times.
However, even today BUGS AND THUGS constitutes a valuable Personal Finance Primer for Young Americans..
Bust 'em, Bugs!.
Directed by Friz Freleng, "Bugs and Thugs" pits Bugs Bunny against mob leader Rocky and his bigger, dumber accomplice Mugsy.
Bugs gets the better of them, of course.Highlights: Rocky tells Bugs to get out of the car and check the railroad tracks for any oncoming trains; after Bugs imitates Mugsy in replying "OK, boss," he signals for the crooks to drive through, but they of course get run over by a locomotive.
When the police (phony and real) arrive at the gangsters' hideout, Bugs convinces Rocky and Mugsy to hide in the stove; to further prove that the crooks are not in the stove, Bugs turns on the gas and throws in a lighted match!
While at a gas station, Bugs calls the police and tells them he's been kidnapped by the two bank robbers; they drive off with Bugs while he's still on the line, and the policeman on the other end gets pulled through and dragged behind the gangsters' car."Bugs and Thugs" can be found on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1 Disc 4. |
tt0963966 | The Sorcerer's Apprentice | The events that unfold prior to the main timeline in the movie are introduced in narration (uncredited Ian McShane), and takes us to 700 AD. The famous and powerful wizard Merlin (James A. Stephens) had three apprentices to whom he entrusted all of his knowledge of magic and cast spells over them to ensure they didn't age. However, one of his apprentices, Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina), betrayed Merlin for his greatest enemy, the sorceress Morgana (Alice Krige). The other two apprentices, Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) and Veronica (Monica Bellucci) arrive at Merlin's stronghold in time to learn of the deception and discover that Morgana was attempting to steal a spell from Merlin's spell book that would allow her to awaken dead wizards and sorcerers and rule the world, The Rising.Morgana overpowers Merlin with Horvath's help and fatally wounds him before retrieving the evil spell. Balthazar and Veronica duel with Morgana while Horvath escapes. As a last resort, Veronica uses a spell to absorb Morgana's soul into her own body to stop her but Morgana begins to kill Veronica from the inside. To ensure Veronica's survival Balthazar traps her, with Morgana, in the Grimhold, a large nesting doll. Both facades of Veronica and Morgana are displayed on the outer shell. Before he dies, Merlin tells Balthazar that he must find the child that will be born endowed with all of his powers, the Prime Merlinian, and gives him a small, metal dragon; a symbol of his magic. The Prime Merlinian will be the only one to stop Morgana. Balthazar searches the globe for the Merlinian, with no success. Over time, he battles evil sorcerers and adds them, in layers, to the Grimhold until, finally, he captures Horvath and seals him in the outermost layer.Centuries pass to the year 2000. A young boy named David Stutler (Jake Cherry) wakes up for school, greeted by his bulldog puppy, Tank. He the bus into New York City with his classmates on a field trip and draws a picture on the window which, at the right moment, makes it look as if King Kong is battling fighter planes on the Empire State Building. The act impresses his crush Becky (Peyton List). As the students rest on a side street later, Dave gives Becky a note asking her to choose whether she'd consider him as a friend or boyfriend. She writes her answer and leaves it on her bench seat but, before Dave can collect it, the note blows away in the wind. He follows it inside an antique store where Dave meets Balthazar who reprimands him for nearly knocking over a large urn, one reputed to suck anyone inside for ten years. Dave tries to explain that he was simply trying to catch a piece of paper and wound up in the store by coincidence, but Balthazar explains that there are no coincidences. Balthazar pulls out Merlin's dragon and asks Dave to hold it, saying that if it 'likes him' he can keep it. Dave takes the dragon which immediately springs to life and winds itself around his finger as a ring, revealing him as the Prime Merlinian.A relieved Balthazar explains to Dave that he's been searching the world for him and that he will grow up to be a powerful sorcerer but is, for now, Balthazar's apprentice. He tells Dave to remain in the shop and to avoid touching anything while he retrieves the book of spells from the basement. However, ever curious Dave finds that, upon moving his ring finger, a mysterious thud sounds from the wall above him. He raps the air harder and the Grimhold bursts out of the wall and lands on the floor in front of him. Dave picks it up and his touch activates the outer layer, breaking the shell open to reveal thousands of insects which meld together into a rejuvinated Horvath. He demands the Grimhold from Dave but is pinned on the ceiling by Balthazar. Horvath attacks, using his shillelagh-like staff to project his magic and Balthazar orders Dave to run with the Grimhold. In the ensuing battle, much of the store is destroyed and a fire ignites. Balthazar and Horvath are then sucked into the large urn as Dave runs outside and throws the Grimhold into the street. He is reunited with his teachers and classmates and tries to explain what just happend but, upon returning to the store, they find it untouched and empty. His classmates make fun of him while Becky can only look on sadly.10 years later, Dave is a physics genius at NYU and prefers to keep to himself. His roommate Bennet (Omar Benson Miller) tries to get him to 'participate' more but all Dave really wants to do is experiment with Tesla coils in a rented lab space, accompanied only by Tank. He has kept the dragon ring throughout the years but leaves it in the top shelf of his dresser. During one of his classes, he is reunited with Becky and learns that she works at a local radio station. Inspired by his newfound crush, Dave returns to his lab to work with the coils and the electricity they emit while listening to Becky's station.Meanwhile, after 10 years trapped, Horvath emerges from the antique urn, now owned by an elderly couple (Sándor Técsy and Marika Daciuk). Learning that he's the first to emerge, he takes the urn and tosses it out the window bidding farewell to Balthazar. Falling several stories, Balthazar manages to escape before the urn crashes to the ground. Horvath finds his way to Dave's apartment, guided there by an old school report of Dave's that was sucked into the urn with him. When Dave can't remember the whereabouts of the Grimhold, Horvath conducts a spell that sends a pack of wolves to chase Dave out of the building to nearby train tracks. Just as the wolves are about to pounce, Balthazar arrives on a large steel eagle; a gargoyle he plucked off the nearest high-rise, and turns the wolves into puppies. Balthazar takes Dave away as the next train arrives (and manages to save the puppies by imprinting them on paper which blows away).Balthazar takes Dave to the top of a building where he tells him that he must begin learning sorcery and help retrieve the Grimhold. Dave is naturally against doing anything but living a normal life until Balthazar summons Dave's dresser and pulls out the dragon ring. He then convinces Dave that, if he helps find the Grimhold, his obligations will come to an end and he can decide whether he wants to continue learning magic. Dave agrees. Using an atmospheric spell centered over the Grimhold's location, Balthazar finds that it's somewhere in Chinatown. Together, they go to an impound where Balthazar finds his old car and starts it up like new. On the way, Balthazar gives Dave the most basic of lessons in magic and tells him that the ring he wears is a focal point for the natural energy in Dave's body; without the ring, a sorcerer is powerless.Horvath returns to the antique shop to retrace the Grimhold's last location. Using a time spell, and the knowledge that Dave threw it into the street, he discovers that the Grimhold was picked up by an elderly Chinese shopkeeper (Wai Ching Ho).Balthazar pinpoint the Grimhold's location to an old shop and instructs Dave to keep an eye out on the street where a parade is takign place while he goes to fetch it. Upon entering the shop, Balthazar meets the old shopkeeper and inquires about the doll. When she falters, he compliments her in Chinese and she commends his Mandarin. However, Balthazar throws her against the wall and says that he spoke Cantonese; the old woman was Horvath in disguise who shows Balthazar the Grimhold, and another layer broken. The released wizard Sun-Lok (Gregory Woo) attacks Balthazar but is thrown out the window into the street. Dave goes to him to see if he's all right, but Balthazar advises him from above to run. While Balthazar battles with Horvath, and manages to take back the Grimhold, Dave attempts to elude the large, and very alive, dragon that Sun-Lok conjures from a group of revelers carrying a parade dragon. Balthazar advises Dave to fight back, much to Dave's bewilderment. However, Dave manages to conjure his first bout of magic and defeats the dragon and, subsequently, Sun-Lok. Excited with his first success, Dave agrees to learn magic from Balthazar.Dave introduces Balthazar to his lab space where they take up residence and begin practicing. Balthazar creates a Merlin Circle to help centralize Dave's magic and gives him a pair of what Dave calls 'old man shoes' that are supposed to help conduct the flow of energy. Balthazar tells Dave that, once he enters the Merlin Circle, there is no going back.Meanwhile, Horvath, after noticing the ring on Dave's finger and discovering that he is the Prime Merlinian, goes in search of an apprentice for himself. He is sent to the illusionist Drake Stone (Toby Kebbell) who happens to be a true sorcerer, albeit flamboyant and theatrical. He blames his alternative, magical lifestyle on the fact that his mentor disappeared and he attempted to blend into society doing what he does best - though not to the extent of Horvath. Horvath takes him to Battery Park in the financial district and points out the location for The Rising while Drake is distracted by signature-seeking fans.Dave and Balthazar rest on a bench while Dave waits for Becky to finish her shift at the radio station. When he sees her, Balthazar asserts that love is nothing but a distraction. Despite his warnings, Dave runs to meet Becky and accompanies her down to the subway. They're attacked by a mugger (Jason R. Moore) who runs off with Becky's bracelet, a gift from her grandmother. Dave runs after the mugger and uses magic to lock the gateways out of the upper subway level before confronting the man. While the mugger is initially confused with Dave's awkward stance, he is surprised to see Dave lift a garbage bin and set it on fire before he's knocked out by it. Dave retrieves Becky's belongings and invites her to visit his lab the following day. She agrees.The next day, Becky stops by as Dave and Balthazar are practicing magic. Dave eagerly puts off the lesson to accomodate Becky and Balthazar, who introduces himself as Dave's uncle, makes light of the situation and comes up with an excuse to leave them alone for the moment. He goes back to his old antique shop and goes into the basement where he takes a necklace wrapped in fine cloth out of his secret hiding place. Dave shows Becky his Tesla coils situated around the room and invites her into a small 'cage' where his main console is located. Using his computer, he programs the coils to emit electric bolts through the air at differing frequencies, causing spurts of sound which, when timed right, sound like music. Dave plays a song that Becky played during her shift and he explains that her passion for music rekindled his passion for science...and her. He admits he's sappy as they watch the rest of the light show. Later, he drops her off at her yoga class and she agrees to see him again later that night.Dave goes into the restroom where he's confronted by Drake, who addresses him as the Prime Merlinian. Confused at first, Dave is horrified to see Horvath come in after Drake. Horvath mocks Dave's faith in Balthazar and claims the man is not what he seems and that he's been withholding. He also detects that Dave is in love and threatens to end the relationship if Dave doesn't hand over the Grimhold which, he says, Dave actually knows nothing about. Balthazar comes to Dave's rescue and the two return to the lab where Dave confronts Balthazar about what Horvath told him. Balthazar reveals that the inner-most layer of the doll contains Morgana who was contained by Veronica. Balthazar and Horvath were in love with Veronica while they were apprentices to Merlin, but Veronica only reciprocated Balthazar's love. The necklace Balthazar took from his old shop was intended for Veronica. Heartbroken, Horvath betrayed them for Morgana. The purpose of Dave's training was to prepare him to be strong enough to fight Morgana and end the threat against the world once and for all. He will be ready once he is able to perform magic without the assistance of the ring. Stunned, Dave rejects the idea and ushers Balthazar out of the lab so he can prepare for Becky's arrival. Realizing the lab is an utter mess and he has little time to shower, Dave performs a spell reminscient of Mickey's from Fantasia. However, as in the original, the mops and brooms soon wreak havoc on the lab and flood it as Becky arrives. Dave is forced to send her away and, while unsuccessfully trying to stop the maniacal mops, nearly falls into electrocuted water but is saved again by Balthazar who scolds him for abusing magic. Dave argues in frustration with magic and not being able to perform it well before leaving the lab in a huff.He walks downtown and sees Becky in a coffee shop talking with other friends. He walks away but not before Becky notices him. She follows him to the top of a building where he stands on the roof, contemplating getting rid of his dragon ring. She tells him that she noticed him looking sadder than usual and tries to boost his confidence by saying that one botched date wasn't going to make her hate him. They reminisce about their childhood and Becky says that what she likes about him is that he saw the world differently than other people and thought he was cool for it.Balthazar cleans the lab of the remaining water as Dave walks in again. However, Balthazar notices too late that 'Dave' is actually Drake in disguise and is tied up to a coil fan. Horvath enters and finds the Grimhold before attacking Balthazar. The real Dave enters and saves Balthazar at the last moment while Horvath and Drake escape. Balthazar and Dave give chase along the city streets, transforming the oldsmobile into a sleek sportscar. As the chase carries on, Horvath and Drake transfer to a garbage truck that crushes Balthazar's car. Balthazar and Dave escape and pursue Horvath by foot. Horvath taps a passing woman in the crowd to make her look like Veronica, distracting Balthazar and allowing Horvath to escape.At Drake's pad, Horvath reveals that it will take a great deal of power to release Morgana's shell and employs the 'parasite' spell on Drake, stealing his energy and killing him in the process. This allows him to crack the second-to-last shell which frees Abigail Williams (Nicole Ehinger), a young witch from Salem whom he sends to kidnap Becky. Once that is done, Horvath steals Abigail's energy as well.Balthazar and Dave track Horvath's location to Drake's pad where they split up to find the Grimhold. Balthazar becomes trapped in a Persian rug with a quicksand-like center while Dave finds the Grimhold. However, Horvath confronts him, holding Becky hostage. Horvath tells Dave that he will release Becky if Dave hands over his ring and the Grimhold. Dave obliges and Horvath leaves. Balthazar frees himself and finds Dave somber, though he defends the choice he made. Balthazar agrees that it was the right choice but advises Dave to stay behind while he faces Horvath alone. He then flies off for Battery Park on the steel eagle while Dave attempts to explain to a bewildered Becky everything that just happened. Determined to help Balthazar, Dave comes up with a plan and calls Bennet for assistance. They attach one of Dave's Tesla coils to the front of the oldsmobile and Dave drives out towards Battery Park with Becky, upon her insistence to help him.Balthazar arrives at the park where Horvath has released Morgana, still in Veronica's body. Morgana begins to chant ancient rites in a circle and uses the satellite dishes on the nearby rooftops to reflect beams of magic into the form of a pentacle. Horvath detects Balthazar's presence and engages him in battle, bringing to life a large brass bull which focuses on Balthazar.As Dave and Becky drive closer, Dave sees the beams of energy produced by Morgana. Becky elects to help and Dave tells her to climb to the top of one of the buildings and disrupt the flow between the discs. Before she leaves, he asks her what she wrote on the piece of paper he gave her 10 years ago. She says she'll tell him so long as he doesn't die. While she climbs to the roof, Dave manages to drive the oldsmobile right into the brass bull harassing Balthazar and uses the Tesla coil on the front to disarm and incapacitate Horvath. Balthazar's steel eagle then swoops down and carries the bull away before it can charge again. At that moment, Becky is able to knock one of the dishes out of place just as the spell is under way. All the dead sorcerers that had begun to rise disintegrate and the spell rebounds and knocks Morgana unconscious. Balthazar runs to her and, seeing that both Veronica and Morgana are still alive, performs what Veronica did. He takes Morgana into himself and revives Veronica. Balthazar winces in pain as Morgana possesses him and forces herself out of his body, manifesting in a misty haze of her former body. She attacks Balthazar and Veronica but Dave rushes in and is able to deflect her attacks without the power of the ring.Morgana focuses her attacks on Dave who uses his magic to summon electrical wires to the spot. At the right moment, he bombards Morgana with a series of electrical pulses which disable her powers. He is then able to barrage her with plasma balls and destroy her. Elated over his victory, Dave runs to Balthazar to celebrate but finds that he's collapsed in Veronica's arms. She sadly tells Dave that he's gone, but Dave won't give in. Veronica steps back as Dave uses electrical energy to restart Balthazar's heart, all while frustratingly insulting him. Balthazar comes back to life and thanks Dave before embracing Veronica and giving her the necklace he bought her. Becky arrives at the park and greets Dave. They embrace and kiss and Becky tells him 'girlfriend, definitely girlfriend'. Dave summons the steel eagle and invites Becky to have breakfast in Paris with him. They hop on the eagle and fly off into the night, David admitting that he 'doesn't know how to land this thing'.A secret ending reveals Horvath's hat in Balthazar's study, the hat that had been left behind following the battle with Morgana. A dark figure collects the hat, carrying a cane, and strolls out of the study. | fantasy, gothic, murder, cult, violence, flashback, good versus evil, psychedelic, action, humor, romantic | train | imdb | Fun. Dueling sorcerers, a compelling back-story, top-notch acting talent, and the Disney brand bring the idea born of Fantasia's Sorcerer's Apprentice to the big screen in a live full movie adaptation.
is funny and charming in a believably nerdy fashion; Cage is at his quirky but charismatic best; the effects are plentiful and top notch; there's both a tragic love story and a young cute one plus a healthy dose of clever references to Disney's epic Fantasia (from which this film is partially inspired).
He is a very talented actor and he proves it in each movie he's in whether it's good or bad.This is about wizard named Balthazar who lives in modern day New York City.
This Disney movie is fun and the effects are first grade.Nicolas Cage is good as expected.
Turns out it's true that minimal expectations help in seeing a movie in its own terms and, as family-film trifle, APPRENTICE delivers, if not much else.Exposition abounds when we are introduced to the plot, which opens in 700 A.D., where great Wizard Merlin is killed by his evil adversary Morgana (Alice Krige, in it for only a few minutes), and passes his legacy to one of his young apprentices, Balthazar (holy smoke!
Forward a few years more and Dave, now a geeky teenager (Jay Baruchel), is now ready to be trained with the Magical Arts (which, the movie explains, is actually more connected to modern science than we thought) and save the world.
With so many movies around throwing out fantasy for realism (meaning lots of shaky "you are there" camera work), THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE is a pretty close throwback to some of those 80's effects-heavy fantasy movies usually associated with Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic effects house (the film reminds most of the effects-laden YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES when I saw the trailer).
As of late Disney has not brought forth any movies I have loved till now, and between Jerry Bruckheimer, Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel, and Alfred Molina the movie had great chemistry.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice does cater to a younger audience, but also provides enough action, suspense, and humor to cater to those of the older generation, making it a great family movie.
I do not understand how a producer invests millions of dollars in a film with Jay Baruchel in a lead role, and why Nicolas Cage and Monica Bellucci accepted to work in this flick.
This fantasy film has a lot going for it: an engaging story, lavish Disney production, the exciting location of New York City, and a talented cast including Nic Cage, Alfred Molina, Jake Cherry and many strong support actors.
Jay Baruchel and Cage play apprentice and master, and they're facing off against Alfred Molina's Horvath, one of three Merlin students who are now foes in 2010 vying to stop/open a vase with an evil witch in their who can destroy the world, yada yada, Baruchel has a girl he wants to be with and/or protect, so on so forth.
On occasion they do, and one can tell they had some thrills putting on their old-style costumes- Cage in particular looking like he could be out of film-noir as much as a sorcerer- but the script gives them little to do except declare things to other characters and deliver exposition.
A consistent movie with some great performances and awesome special effects, it's problems lay in other things.First of all, I'd like to say that I don't think Jay Baruchel is the worst actor ever.
Don't get me wrong, a character can laugh during an action scene, but it depends solely on how it's done, and in this movie, it's certainly not done well.I'd recommend this movie if you like a family-friendly fantasy film, and I'd say that if you have the chance to watch it, go for it, but really, don't expect too much..
The plot of the movie is pretty much textbook Bruckheimer, like his film Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time which was released earlier in the year.
But for now, you're my apprentice ¨ From the producer of Pirates of the Caribbean, Jerry Bruckheimer, and the director of the National Treasure franchise, Jon Turteltaub, comes The Sorcerer's Apprentice, a film with big names, a great amount of CGI visual effects, but little imagination.
My favorite scene in the movie was the one from Disney's Fantasia in which the mops and brooms come to life to help clean the lab, but that was perhaps one of the few positive things along with some funny scenes from Cage that I can say about this movie.And now it's time to explain the plot, my least favorite part about The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
The movie opens with a Lord of the Rings style narration in 700 AD where Merlin, the greatest sorcerer ever, is teaching his three apprentices Balthazar (Nicholas Cage), Horvath (Alfred Molina), and Veronica (Monica Bellucci) the secrets of the sorcerers.
Meanwhile, Dave begins to get a little distracted when he runs into his old childhood sweetheart, Becky (Teresa Palmer), and Horvath find an apprentice of his own in entertainer and magician Drake Stone (Toby Kebbell).The plot is very silly and really doesn't work in a film that invested so much in the visuals and in the cast.
Nicolas Cage does what he can to save this movie, Alfred Molina is also a good villain, Jay Baruchel probably wasn't the right choice in a movie like this, but his character was silly anyway, Teresa Palmer played the girl of his dreams and she was alright, and the surprise in this film was Toby Kebbell who had a pretty funny role as Molina's apprentice and entertainer, but he had very little screen time.
The movie really suffers from little imagination because if you have the resources to make a film about sorcerers several entertaining things can be done, but the story is pretty simple and we've seen most everything before.
The main characters got on my nerves, The story was OK but not great.I was expecting something better, I am a huge fan of the Fantasy genre, even if Fantasy and magic and everything gets dragged into real-life surroundings, only with magic powers or a few monsters to allowing it to be classed as 'Fantasy'.I've watched the Percy Jackson film on Sky Movies, and I nearly enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the book series.
However, Horvath (Alfred Molina) has other plans, to resurrect Morgana (Alice Krige) to take over the world.Frequent Disney film director Jon Turteltaub delivers a wonderful fantasy family film set in present day New York.
Cage is on surprisingly likable good form and looks particular comfortable in his role.At first lead actor Jay Baruchel as Dave, the Sorcerer's Apprentice, is annoying, a mix of a bad impression of Chris Kattan's Corky Romano voice and gawkiness,who is reminiscent of a young Mike Myers.
There is a weak homage to the earlier film with a series of uncooperative wet mops, but the rest of the story is calculated, hokey Arthurian legend, the patchwork result of three credited scriptwriters, Matt Lopez, Doug Miro, and Carlo Bernard, who play strictly by the cliché guidebook.The convoluted plot, such as it is, focuses on one of Merlin's apprentices, the noble Balthazar Blake, who must fight to save mankind from the evil machinations of Horvath, who of course, wants to destroy it.
Nicolas cage on this movie ha ha ha i think lately the great actors of the Hollywood are starving because of internet downloads of movies and trying to find better victims in small ages to fill their pockets lol Ha ha ha they trying to act in cartoons to give their voices to animals etc.God of internet balance their pockets and their egoism and their thirst for money.I think year 2008-2009-2010 was the year of the most stupid films ever made in the American cinema history.They deserve this.
I brought my wife and kids to this Film, the Kids are 15 and 6.We were not expecting much, but it was a fun action packed adventure film that ticked every box.The story line was good, it is fast paced with lots of funny moments.The acting was great, the 2 main characters had a great rapport.
With much special effects as enhancement, the action scenes are candy eye which try to replace the cliché' story about a nerd training into an apprentice of a sorcerer and getting the girl he is so mad in love.
Balthazar (Cage) is a Sorcerer in the present day and finds Dave (Baruchel) who will become his apprentice to help defeat Horvath (Molina) another Sorcerer who has designs on ending the known world.
Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) is a master sorcerer in modern-day Manhattan trying to defend the city from his arch-nemesis, Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina).
Baruchel's acting is very much like he was in 'She's Out Of My League' but he does it well enough so why change it if he's getting movie offers, plus he's still young enough to develop his repertoire.Some people have made reference to the special effects not being brilliant but I didn't notice much difference to the stuff you'd see in the Harry Potter films.To sum up - Maybe not a big enough film to go and see at the cinema but can easily fill a slot on a lazy afternoon in-front of the television..
It also stars Jay Baruchel as goofy, science-loving Dave (Balthazar's unknowing apprentice), and Balthazar's arch-nemesis Horvath played by Alfred Molina.
Balthazar must teach Dave all about sorcery while fighting Horvath and defending New York City from centuries old sorcerers and witches that are being brought back before the release of the most powerful dark sorceress Morgana (who just so happens to be trapped in a "doll-like prison" with Balthazar's love Veronica).
Dave does his best to try and stop Balthazar from believing that he can be the Prime Merlinian, the only sorcerer able to beat Morgana, but throughout their time together they each learn from one another and grow together.The underlying theme here seems to be that greatness can come from anyone.
Unfortunately this also means as apprentice to Balthazar, he is thrust into doing battle against Maxim Horvath (Molina), a skilled sorcerer of old who has some devilish plans he wants to enact.The Disney/Cage/Turteltaub combination once again deliver family friendly high jinx for the target audience.
Jon Turteltaub's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" is a goof-ball action film with a mere gimmick: a nerdy physics student, Dave (Jay Baruchel), finds out he has secret abilities he didn't know about.The opening of the movie has an odd and lengthy back story to sorcery, told in random glimpses of ancient sword and magic fights and other historical events that took place since the time of Merlin.
No surprise, the sequence comes up well short of the original and Baruchel just doesn't have the physical skills to pull it off.I assume this movie is aimed at 10 year olds and I am just not sure they will understand the story, though I feel confident the big special effects and cool car chase will be enough for a few oohs and ahhs.
Cage plays Balthazar an age old sorcerer who looking for the last of the great sorcerers when he finds him and his name is David (Jay Baruchel) After giving very nerdy David a crash course in sorcery to put a stop to an age old nemesis of Balthazar's and the famous Merlin, Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina) who has escaped his inescapable prison to un leash an age old witch which will doom all of mankind.
In the end Cage and Baruchel learn from each other as the younger guy has a few science tricks to help defeat the bad guys.The Sorcerer's Apprentice is not going to be ever listed as one of the great products from the Magic Kingdom, but it's an entertaining family film a good recommendation in these days..
Because they want to destroy the world.And that is the maximum dramatic deepness The Sorcerer's Apprentice aspires to.Besides of being superficially based on the rich Arthurian legends, The Sorcerer's Apprentice has the doubtful distinction of being a remake of a famous Disney film...or, better said, a remake of the most famous scene from the classical Fantasia, where we saw Mickey Mouse losing the control of various cleaning implements as a consequence of practicing magic without his master's permission.Clear that that nice scene did not have car chases, or alternative rock, or references to Star Wars.The problem is that the screenplay from The Sorcerer's Apprentice feels very forced, at the same time it has many elements we have already seen too many times.The Sorcerer's Apprentice is one of those apparatus movies with many turns which do not lead to anywhere.After the introduction of the characters, the screenplay falls into a routine which combines the lessons from the "master", the shy approaches from the "hero" in order to get closer to his loved one and the appearance every 10 or 15 minutes of the villain in order to generate a little bit of drama...
or, in other words, to produce another over the top special effects sequence to generate some excitement.Needless to say they did not provoke that on me, since I found them to be as boring and insipid as the rest of the film.Even though their characters lack of deepness, I have to say that Nicolas Cage and Jay Baruchel show a good level of credibility and enthusiasm on their roles.And Alfred Molina is absolutely wasted as the villain.In conclusion, The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a boring, mediocre and disposable film experience, so I cannot recommend it.In my humble opinion, this is another failed imitation of Harry Potter, but at least, it is not as bad as Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.Unfortunately, that is one of the best things I can say about it..
Even with the fantastical elements at play in the film, and specifically with his character, Cage is the single most believable thing in the film.Baruchel, while not quite at a point in his career where he can legitimately carry a movie (voice acting notwithstanding), is fairly enjoyable as Dave.
An entertaining origin story; some truly neat special effects played against the very real streets of New York City makes The Sorcerer's Apprentice that much more magical and lots of fun to see on the big screen..
"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" produced as kind of spin-off of a Walt Disney animated short subject from the 1940s brought to scale in production slate season 2009/2010 by Jerry Bruckheimer Films with a production budget of 150 Million U.S. Dollars, building a state of the art symbiosis between production design and computer-generated visual effects, but denies itself to find a center sequence of spectator-transcending magical matter.In that sense, the director Jon Turteltaub misses its chance to find a wide audience, giving itself to a weakly written script full of teenage-day-dreaming cliché, followed by miss-cast actor Jay Baruchel in the leading role as the apprentice.
It has a great cast, plot, lore, action, special effects, acting, and musical score.With some good characters, this movie can at times, be very memorable.
All the negative reviews are focusing on the acting performances of Cage and Baruchel, which, I agree, aren't the best but at the end of the day this film wasn't made to be a contender for any acting Oscar nominations.What you get I is a good, fun movie that lets you escape from the usual day to day rubbish and that doesn't pretend to be anything more that what it is.I'm not saying this because I'm a Nicholas Cage fan, which I'm most certainly not, while I think he is a talented actor I've only really enjoyed him in Con Air, Face Off and Lord if War.Tell me, who didn't like Micky Mouse in Fantasia, or never dreamt about being a witch or a wizard when they were a kid or loved watching dungeons and dragons cartoons, this movie takes you right back..
Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) is a good sorcerer trying to prevent the bad sorcerer Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina) from releasing the dark sorceress Morgana le Fey. In order to finally defeat Morgana, Balthazar must recruit Dave Stutler (Jay Baruchel) the Prime Merlinian.Lots of CG effects in this Jerry Bruckheimer production directed by Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure).
Film Title: The Sorcerer's Apprentice Director: Jon Turteltaub Cast: Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel, and Alfred Molina The movie starts out with Balthazar who is played by Nicholas Cage, Veronica played by Monica Bellucci and Horvath that is played by actor Alfred Molina fighting alongside Merlin tying to defeat Morgana in medieval times.
The second time in the movie where we see the theme of love is in the scene were Dave played by actor Jay Baruchel goes after a robber after Becky's bracelet gets stolen.
Released in 2010, the film stars actors Nicholas Cage, Jay Baruchel, and Alfred Molina.
'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' is designed on a very clear and often used formula of the Disney family movie with special effects, and it holds no surprises - in any case neither too bad, nor too good ones.
well since this is Sci-fi stuff i guess anything is possible, and somewhere there i read that he actually had apprentices, because he would get tired every other century or so and then he will take a nap of decades.Either way, movie leaving the action effects on the side, which are great on the battles between sorcerers, the story was good interesting, but well the was it was projected was a little eeh.
With The Sorcerer's Apprentice he set out to turn the famous Mickey Mouse segment of Fantasia into a live action film which in turn was based on a 18th poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.Starting in 740AD the great wizard Merlin has three apprentices, Balthazar (Nicolas Cage), Horvath (Alfred Molina) and Veronica (Monica Bellucci), and they were in battle with Morgana le Fay (Alice Krige). |
tt0202677 | The Way of the Gun | Parker and Longbaugh are a pair of low-level petty criminals, living off the grid and funding their existence through unconventional and often illegal means. Wanting to move past petty crime, they vow to get the proverbial "big score." While at a sperm donation clinic, the pair overhear a telephone conversation detailing a $1,000,000 payment to a surrogate mother for bearing the child of money launderer Hale Chidduck. Parker and Longbaugh resolve to kidnap the surrogate, Robin, but their attempt escalates into a shootout with her bodyguards, Jeffers and Obecks. The kidnappers are able to elude the bodyguards, who are arrested.
Jeffers and Obecks are bailed out and returned to Chidduck by his right-hand man Joe Sarno. As Sarno begins coordinating Robin's rescue, Longbaugh contacts her gynecologist, Dr. Allen Painter, and orders him to a truck stop to examine Robin. After the examination, Painter returns to Chidduck, and it is revealed that the doctor is Chidduck's son. It is also revealed that Jeffers and Chidduck's wife are romantically involved.
Longbaugh calls from a motel south of the Mexican border and demands a $15 million ransom. Jeffers and Obecks, tempted by the money, begin forming a plan to save the child and keep the money. As Longbaugh hangs up the telephone outside the motel, he is approached by Sarno, who offers to pay $1 million if they surrender Robin and simply walk away. Longbaugh declines the offer and returns to his room, where Parker and Robin are playing cards. Sarno then returns to Chidduck's home to plan the next step.
Jeffers comes to realize that Robin is Sarno's daughter. Jeffers, Obecks, and Painter leave to meet with the kidnappers, while Sarno departs separately with the ransom. At the motel, Parker is having second thoughts. As he confers with Longbaugh outside the motel room, Robin takes the opportunity to seize a shotgun and barricade herself inside.
As sirens are heard in the distance, Parker and Longbaugh hastily escape, and Robin emerges just as Mexican police arrive, followed by Jeffers, Obecks, and Painter. As Painter and the bodyguards try to persuade Robin to leave with them, the officers pull their guns and order everybody onto the ground. Parker and Longbaugh open fire from a nearby hilltop, and the shootout leaves the two officers dead and Obecks wounded. Jeffers shoves Painter and Robin into his car and drives off.
Parker and Longbaugh torture Obecks to learn Robin's location, while Jeffers confines Robin in a room in a Mexican brothel. Jeffers forces Painter to perform a Caesarean section to retrieve the baby, despite Robin's confession that the child is hers and Painter's and is not Chidduck's. Meanwhile, the heavily armed Parker and Longbaugh infiltrate the brothel. The ensuing gunfight, which leaves Parker wounded, turns into another standoff, until Painter shoots Jeffers. Outside, Sarno arrives with a group of men and the ransom, which they stack in the courtyard. Parker wants to kidnap Robin and Painter again, but Longbaugh, guilt-ridden after seeing her condition, responds: "She's had enough". Despite realizing that the money is bait, Parker and Longbaugh charge headlong into an ambush.
All of Sarno's men are killed in the ensuing firefight. However, Sarno manages to shoot and cripple the already wounded Parker and Longbaugh, and then calls for an ambulance. Painter emerges with Robin and the baby. Lying in a pool of blood, Parker and Longbaugh call out to Sarno, informing him that the baby is in fact Robin and Painter's, and thus Sarno's grandson. Parker wonders aloud if this fact will influence Sarno to let them keep the child. Robin and the baby are then taken away in the ambulance with Painter, Sarno and the money, leaving Parker and Longbaugh to die. Days later, Chidduck's wife reveals that she is pregnant. | comedy, suspenseful, neo noir, murder, cult, violence, revenge | train | wikipedia | THE WAY OF THE GUN (2000) ***1/2 Ryan Phillippe, Benicio del Toro, Juliette Lewis, James Caan, Taye Diggs, Nicky Katt, Scott Wilson, Kristin Lehmann, Geoffrey Lewis, Sarah Silverman.Christopher McQuarrie makes his directing debut in a big way with an obvious nod to Sam Peckinpaugh with his screenplay about two ne'er do well criminals (Phillippe and del Toro, both exemplary) who decide to make a mark for themselves by kidnapping a very pregnant surrogate mother (Lewis) to a wealthy businessman (Wilson) that eventually pans out to be a big mistake in a tangled web involving the woman's bodyguards (Diggs and Katt) and the bagman friend of the rich man (Caan in one fine, low-key performance of nuanced dread).
Although I know I am in the extreme minority "Way of the Gun is a much more complete film than Usual Suspects it is a metaphor for the careless way we lead our lives only realizing that the one most innocent and beautiful thing is life it self.
What I fail to understand is why if "The Usual Suspects" was so incredibly popular (because it was so freakin' good), "The Way of the Gun" gets stepped on, both at the box office upon its initial release, and in various, snarky IMDb user comments.This movie isn't just good.
and when a filmmaker is making a smart film about amoral, gun-toting outlaws, the people who come to see that sort of movie are going to feel confused and angry.
McQuarrie may be a victim of his own success, because it was released in the aftermath of "The Usual Suspects," but if it built up an underground following like "The Killer," it would be on the shelf of must-haves next to John Woo, Guy Ritchie and any other art film your parents wouldn't approve of.Every character has his own motive, has his own backstory, and not all are necessarily spelled out for you.
But I think comparing that movie to 'The Way Of The Gun' (Christopher McQuarrie wrote both and directs this in an impressive debut) is unproductive and misguided.
Something that has more in common with Sam Peckinpah than the plethora of shallow post-Tarantino rip-offs Hollywood has foisted on us in recent years.The basic premise is fairly straightforward - two losers "Parker" (A surprisingly effective Ryan Phillipe in easily his best role to date) and "Longbaugh" (the always excellent Benicio Del Toro), cook up a half baked scheme to kidnap a surrogate mother (Juliette Lewis - 'Cape Fear', 'Kalifornia') and hold her for ransom.
Little do they realize that she is carrying a child for Chidduck, a Mob money launderer (veteran character actor Scott Wilson - 'In Cold Blood', 'The Ninth Configuration') who has some nasty associates, and is reluctant to pay up.The guys soon find themselves embroiled in a chinese puzzle of relationships including ruthless bodyguards Jeffers (Taye Digs - 'Go') and Obecks (Nicky Katt - 'SubUrbia', 'The Limey'), and Chidduck's bagman and troubleshooter, the complex Sarno (the legendary James Caan - 'The Godfather', 'Thief'), and Sarno's colleague Abner (frequent Clint Eastwood sidekick, and Juliet's real life father, Geoffrey Lewis).
My only warning is that if you're included in the faint of heart then this probably is one to avoid as this was definitely a dab of the good OL' ultra-violence!Final Say:Movies: Would've been enjoyable to see it there.DVD Purchase: Based on how low it's currently priced I probably won't be able to help myself.Rental: Come on, you know you want to!!!.
now usually the title is a cryptic clue, but in this case--it says it all.if you are wondering why devote a film exclusively to gun-play, then ask yourself why devote a summer movie solely to computer special effects.i know most of you are guilty of seeing one of the hot season flicks because your friends said it looked awesome.
James Caan with his hardened bagman, Juliet Lewis with her devious suragate mother, Taye Diggs with his ambitious bodyguard, and Ryan Phillipe with his naive criminal all thrust together with Del Toro make for an ambitious film caring more for the people then for the situation they are in, but hey, with so many films loaded with high concept and devoid of endearing characters, this is what I needed..
There are no sympathetic characters in this movie, or to quote the film makers, "No hookers with a heart of gold"That just makes it feel a lot more like we are seeing real criminals.
It tells of two small time crooks, played by Ryan Phillippe and Benicio Del Toro, who get entangled in a game of crooks versus crooks when they try to pull of a kidnapping.Dreaming of bigger things in life, but regardless of the method used to achieve their dreams of riches, they overhear a conversation at a sperm bank clinic (one of the most happening dialogues in the movie happens there) about a surrogate mother bearing the child of some rich family.
Thrown into the mix is veteran James Caan, as a bag-man extraordinaire, having been so long in the business because of his experience in staying alive.Del Toro and Phillippe exude an excellent bond of camaraderie between their characters - they trust nobody except for themselves, while I thought Juliette Lewis was terrific in her role as the very pregnant mother caught between both sides, and yet bringing out strength as she fights for her child's and her own survival, taking her interests in her own hands.It's a good mix of action and workout for your brain as you figure out the relationships between the characters as the narrative moves along.
Ryan Philipe and Benecio del Toro do a magnificent job of portraying two insane outlaws.The opening of this movie is amazing and will set you in the mood for the rest of this insane movie.When you are a gun buff like myself you know what a good shoot em up movie is.
Benicio del Toro(The Usual Suspects) and Ryan Philippe(Playing by Heart, Cruel Intentions) star in this dark movie about money and consequences and repercussions that come along with the plan to acquire it.
The movie gets a little slow in the middle but the action scenes in the beginning and the end are great.
I usually wait until the movies I want to see come out on video, (I watch all of SCOTT WILSON'S movies and was so glad he was in this movie or else I might have missed this one), but the best thing I did yesterday was to take myself off to the cinema and enjoy a very clever, funny and different film.
Multiple viewings definitely needed.The movie that ultimately comes to mind, my mind anyway, when trying to find anything to compare this with is not Pulp Fiction (The style is completely different, I never read a review by Ebert, but I know I'll never be able to take him seriously again if he said that!) or any of the other movies that have already been mentioned, but 'Ronin'.This movie, like Ronin, portrays criminals and bodyguards in such a professionalistic way as never done before.
Some have compared the film to 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' (the narrator gives himself and his accomplice the real-life surnames of the outlaws), but 'The Wild Bunch' is as good a starting point as any - the alternation of thunderous gunfights with an unearthly calm; the dead-end masculinity; the ritual finale (when Parker jumps into the dry fountain full of broken beer bottles - ouch!); the rare feel for landscape and architecture.
But, lukcily, some of them are overshadowed by a better than average script and very credible actors: Ryan Phillipe and Benicio Del Torro make a good duo, Juliette Lewis is slutty yet charming in a pregnant role and most notably in one of his best roles, James Caan as a aging hitman who will get villain fans cheering.
Juliette Lewis, as the kidnap victim Robin, is her usual self - she's good if you like her in any other movie she played (somewhat shy, lacking self confidence, etc.).
All the rest are good and have the right level of the indefinable `cool' that the film requires.What I liked here was how Director/Writer Christopher McQuarrie doesn't insult his audience by having everything explained in big bright neon lights.
"The Way of the Gun" is the latest action film that must be taken seriously.There are two main elements that make all of the movies above seem so real.
I won't give any key parts of the film away but I'd like to say this (and this won't come as a surprise to any avid movie fan or for people in their late teens and up) but this movie like tragically many was misadvertised.And because of this, I believe this is the reason the movie hasn't done as successful as it deserves to do, after all I personally found it to be an engrossing story with all sorts of plot twists, strategizing, backstabbing, doublecrossing, set-ups, presenting knowledge and wisdom of the life of a bagman on top of the well choreographed shoot-outs.
Unlike the majority of people, I did not like "The Usual Suspects." But "The Way of the Gun" might well be titled "The Way to make a GREAT Movie."A quick point of interest: the city line shot at the beginning of the film is Albuquerque,NM my home town.
This movie is full of neat little tricks that as I watched I kept thinking, "thats a cool idea, I gotta remember that if I am ever in a gunfight." This movie keeps you interested every step of the way, the gun battles are numerous but always new, and the action flows smoothly from one scene to the next at fast pace.
Ryan Phillippe & the always excellent Benicio Del Toro are dynamite as two low-life career criminals who kidnap pregnant surrogate Juliette Lewis and hold her hostage expecting the baby's wealthy (and decidedly unpleasant)parents to pony up a $15 million dollar ransom.
I am not one of those sort of people who will write a review that says 'The Greatest Movie I've Ever Seen (Until The Next One Of Course)' and I shan't pretend that the film doesn't have holes in it: characters such as the 'Bag man' played by Juliet Lewis' real life father are somewhat underdeveloped and the editing is occasionally erratic.
also acting the book-ending narrator of the piece, ryan philippe willfully debunks his movie star career trajectory by choosing to play his character and, in the process, delivers what could be some awkward dialogue & material flawlessly.it's too bad so many people overlooked this film because i got the sense of it being carefully crafted, yet not forced.
'The Way of the Gun,' writer and director Christopher (The Usual Suspects) McQuarrie's crime-heist thriller unfortunately may never be accepted as a true classic for a number of reasons.It was such a superior film that it didn't have any worthy competitors, it was way too intellectual for mainstream audiences and the classics it was reminiscent of were the low-key off-mainstream B-movies no one without an outstanding knowledge of film would know of.
Simply, this film is here to be appreciated by whoever will take a chance on it and those lucky few will strike gold.Two mismatched petty crooks - Mr Parker and Mr Longbaugh - live life on the road doing what they have to do to survive on the bare necessities but as Mr Parker states at the beginning of the film' "need is the ultimate monkey." Tired of finding ways to make easy money to provide for their needs, they happen upon a pregnant woman in a small town who seems to be the surrogate mother for a very wealthy man and his wife and decide it's about time they pulled off one most daring plan which would set them up for a long time.Staging a kidnapping and coming face to face with the surrogate mother's bodyguards, the plot explodes forth like a river through a bursting dam and suddenly the two petty crooks find themselves in over their heads as the expectant father turns out to be one of America's most powerful and dangerous crime kingpins.Enter Joe Sarno (Caan), a veteran "Bag Man" who has served the kingpin all his life, helping to protect his business and his finances.
An old survivor who is as wise as he is guilty and who is intent on doing everything within his power to get the mother and her baby back with no collateral damage, with not a dollar less.As Sarno sets his sights on the two crooks and assesses the increasingly taut situation, the realisation that it could either be the making or complete destruction of everyone involved dawns over each single player involved and so begins a race against time as numerous secret agendas begin to rear their ugly heads.McQuarrie's film has everything audiences between the ages of 18 to 60 would appreciate; I say that because 'Way of the Gun' is not only reminiscent of violent '70's modern-day western crime thrillers, it features the kind of characters associated with those old classics and even features two of the era's most familiar faces, James Caan and Jeffrey Lewis to jog the memory.It is abusively funny and its general sense of humour is sly, if not just grim.
The scenes between Longbaugh and Sarno are ingeniously fraught with charismatic cool and tangible tension and intimidation.And Ryan Phillipe admirably man-handling an assumed case of severe miscasting as his sensitive and misunderstood partner in crime; all his teenage dramas and tacky horror film roles are gladly thrown aside as he becomes a boy grown up too fast and clearly damaged by the things Parker has seen and done in his short and miserable life.Some very tense action scenes are executed finely and purvey a realistic sense of danger.
"It's a motive with a universal adaptor!" Because of 'Way of the Gun's almost impenetrable plot, its originality, wisdom and fast paced, hard hitting action, you will appreciate this film more and more every time you watch it.
But in the case of a special few like 'Millers Crossing' or 'Glengarry Glen Ross', these movies are truly amongst the leaders and very best in their field, to the point that as soon as the credits roll, you wonder how the hell you've never watched this before or why it didn't make greater box office or claim any major awards.The Way of the Gun is like the bastard child of a Western and a Gangster flick, holding many of the attributes of both genres and belonging to neither in whole.
It is all done with wit and without clichés such as Slow-Motion or Shaky-Cam.It is Dialog Driven fueled by Ultra-Violence along a road filled with unappealing Characters, Backstabbers, and Slimy/Greedy Money Men. The most sympathetic is a Bag Man/Cleaner, played with impassioned intensity by James Caan ("You can assume one thing about a broken down Old Man...He's a survivor.").Also the Audience may feel compassion for Juliette Lewis who pulls out the stops here as an about to give Birth pregnant Woman that is central to the Plot.
A complex morally ambiguous movie about two drifters and their suicidal desire for easy money.Ryan Philippe and Benicio Del Toro play the characters nicknamed by Philippe's opening narration as Mr. Parker and Mr. Longbaugh (reference noted).
It seems strange that Chris McQuarrie hasn't done more since the usual suspect, and this his directorial debut, seeing as the latter was a fantastic film, and way of the gun was even better.The film follows the quick fire lives of Parker and Longbaugh who are looking for a big break, and by chance one presents themselves to it.
Great music, believable characters, good scenery, lots of understated acting...and violence, lots of it...lots and lots of wonderful violence.Del Toro makes his best film yet, Caan gets a decent movie to add to the Godfather, Juliet Lewis overeggs it as usual but her dad (Geoffrey) is good, very good...and the rat pack of olden hired guns at the end don't make a bad move.I hope Way of the Gun didn't win any stupid Oscars since that would be an insult to one of the few complete movies out there.This movie should be compulsory for those attending Film School....nuff said!.
After the huge success of the movie "The Usual Suspects", which our director wrote, I'd say that he is following in his own footsteps with another great film.Who else cringed at the scene where Phillipe jumped into the empty fountain full of broken beer bottles?
Way of the Gun is a unique film to begin from scene 1 but that's what makes it such a good movie.
Academy Award winner Benicio Del Toro and Ryan Phillippe play Longbaugh and Parker, Juliette Lewis plays the pregnant Robin, Taye Diggs and Nicky Katt are the bodyguards, Jeffers and Obecks, and Geoffery Lewis and James Caan portray the bagmen, Abner and Joe.The story, also written by McQuarrie is complex and demands your utmost attention.
Get ready...First off, what I love about this movie.I love all of the actors especially Phillippe and Del Toro who turn in excellent performances as our two anti-hero protagonists, and of course, James Caan is the usual cool as ice character he normally plays.
Our 'heroes', Parker and Longbaugh simply have no desire to live and go for an all or nothing heist which goes terribly wrong (I love the line where Del Toro tells James Caan as they are having coffee that 'I don't think this is a brains sort of operation'), but they end up being, ironically, the most 'good' of all of the other characters (everyone is some sort of criminal or an up-to-no-gooder).
Way of the Gun is a great action / crime movie; the acting and writing were first rate, and the shootouts are among the best I've seen, up there with Heat and the Matrix. |
tt1112782 | Thick as Thieves | In New York City, we see veteran thief Keith Ripley (Morgan Freeman) walk into a health spa with a gun and shoot and kill a man in a hot tub. We later learn that it was Victor Korolenko who was Ripleys partner, but Victor body has disappeared. Later Ripley recruits younger crook Gabriel Martin (Antonio Banderas) to help him pull off one final job in order to repay his debt to the Russian mob. Martin is unsure of Ripley, but Ripley's goddaughter (Ripleys ex-partners daughter), Alexandra Korolenko (Radha Mitchell) convinces him other wise. Ripley doesn't like that the two are getting close. Ripley tells Martin the plan, that they are going to steal from a Russian Museum that has been smuggling Russian treasures into the country and bribing the NYPD with large donation and expensive equipment. The two infiltrate a party at the museum posing as cops to gather information about their vault.The Russian mob, led by Nicky (Rade Serbedzija), grow impatient with Ripley and kidnap Alexandra. They tell them they must steal two Fabergé eggs from the Russian Museum in order to get her back. When the duo get into the vaults of the museum with the eggs, Martin reveals he is an undercover cop from Miami planted to catch Ripley. He leaves Ripley locked in the vault and takes the eggs to the Russian mobster to free Alexandra. After Alexandra is released Martin is forced to meet with Nicky. Meanwhile, Lt .Weber (Robert Forster) and his squad enter the museum, but are detained by the security guards due to Martin telling the guards he was a cop as he escaped.Martin reports in to the police the next morning after the police have picked up Nicky, only to learn that the man they have in custody isn't the man Martin met, and that he was actually Victor Korolenko, who had faked his death with Ripley's help. It is then revealed that Ripley had escaped, letting the museum know cops were on the way and that they had cleaned out the vault of all the smuggled items (which had included the eggs) before the police could inspect it, meaning there was no evidence that anything had been stolen and that Martin's testimony would be worthless as his actions have been kept off the book to prevent Ripley from finding out and that Martin's involvement with Alex compromises him, and Ripley had to be let go.Ripley later calls Martin from a tarmac ready to leave with Victor to meet with a buyer for the eggs, letting him know that they knew Martin was a cop from the beginning, and that they plan on going into hiding, although Alex will continue to stay in New York (having been in on the plan the whole time) and where he can pick up his cut. Martin later meets up with Alex, who confesses that her feelings for him are real, and decides to become a thief. | psychedelic | train | imdb | null |
tt0037515 | And Then There Were None | Ten people are gathered for a long weekend on an island off the coast of Devon, England. They are the guests of the mysterious Mr. and Mrs. U.N. Owen, whom none of the ten has ever actually met. During dinner, they notice the centerpiece of ten china Indian figurines, and they compare it to the nursery rhyme counting down from ten to none. After dinner, a recording suddenly blares through the room, accusing them each of the death of another person or persons. Judge Quincannon is accused of sentencing to death an innocent man named Edward Seton. Dr. Armstrong is accused of operating on a woman while drunk and causing her death. Lombard, an adventurer, is accused of allowing a group of native people to be massacred in Africa. Vera Claythorne is accused of the death of her sister's fiance. Nikki Starloff is accused of running over two people with his car. General Mandrake is accused of sending his wife's lover to be killed in the war. Miss Emily Brent is accused of causing the death of a young man by driving him to suicide. The Rogerses are accused of helping the old lady they took care of to die a little sooner than she should have so that they would inherit her money. The voice promises them justice. After this recording, the startled guests compare notes and discover they've been lured to the island under somewhat false pretenses, and they further discover that they are totally cut off from the mainland until the weekend is over. Prince Nikita Starloff suddenly chokes on his drink and dies. Nobody likes to suggest murder, but he doesn't seem the type to suddenly commit suicide. The hysterical Mrs. Rogers is given a sedative by Dr. Armstrong and her husband and the doctor get her to bed. But in the morning she is found dead. The eight remaining people make the connection from the two deaths to the nursery rhyme: "Ten little Indian boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine. Nine little Indian boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight." They search the island for "Mr. Owen." They find they are alone, and they figure one of their number is a murderer. They begin to compare stories and admit their levels of guilt. The next to die is the General, who is found dead of a knife wound down by the seashore (Eight little Indian boys traveling in Devon; One said he'd stay there and then there were seven). Each time one of the people is murdered, they find another statue gone from the centerpiece. They think Rogers is the most likely candidate for the murderer, so they make him sleep out in the woodshed. But Rogers is found dead of an ax wound to the head in the morning, and Miss Brent is missing--she is discovered walking alone down on the seashore. They want to accuse her, but while they are running around in some confusion, she is killed with a hypodermic (Seven little Indian boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in halves and then there were six. Six little Indian boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five). Now the remaining five realize they need to keep together in groups. They tell a little more of the truth of themselves, except Vera won't admit any guilt. While Vera, Lombard, and Blore realize that three is the safest number, the judge and the doctor agree they can form an alliance and find out the truth themselves. When the judge dies from a gunshot wound to the head next, only the doctor examines him and makes that declaration (Five little Indian boys going in for law; One got into Chancery and then there were four). Then with all the electricity gone from the house, in the darkness the remaining four lose the doctor (Four little Indian boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three--he's been drowned down on the seashore), and while Vera, Lombard, and Blore get ready to go look, Blore is killed by someone pushing a piece of chimney down on him (Three little Indian boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two). Lombard and Vera are alone together, and they suspect each other. But they also feel a definite attraction to each other, and they end up agreeing that they don't really think the other is guilty. Vera pretends to shoot Lombard on the beach, and he falls as if dead (Two little Indian boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one). Vera goes back up to the house and discovers there's a hangman's noose waiting for her to use it (One little Indian boy left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none). The judge is sitting in a chair, alive, and explains his plot to her. He thinks he knows that each person is guilty and that the law cannot touch them, so his plan has been to execute them all and then commit suicide. He tells Vera that if the police arrive and find nine dead bodies, they will hang her for murder, so she may as well hang herself. He drinks a glass of poison, but Vera and Lombard, who is actually not Lombard but an innocent friend of Lombard's, are left alive and in each other's arms. | entertaining, suspenseful, mystery, murder, flashback | train | imdb | null |
tt0113360 | The Hunted | Paul Racine (Christopher Lambert), a computer-chip executive from New York, is on one of his many business trips to Nagoya. He meets a beautiful woman named Kirina (Joan Chen) in the hotel lounge, and ends up having a one-night-stand with her. When he attempts to further the relationship, Kirina implies that she has no future and thanks him for a wonderful night of pleasure and love. Dejected and somewhat confused, Paul reluctantly leaves her to be alone as she requests.Soon after the gaijin leaves her suite, however, she is approached by Kinjo (John Lone) and two other men dressed as ninja. Kirina shows no fear and explains that she has accepted her fate. Kinjo, the leader of a cult of ninja assassins, is impressed by the woman's courage and grants her final wish by showing her his face. Paul, who had left with the wrong room key, returns and, upon seeing the situation, hides in the foyer while calling the police. When Kinjo decapitates Kirina (after telling her that she's the first person outside of the cult ever to see his face), Paul first tries to come to her defense, alerting the three ninjas to his presence and then tries to flee. Enraged that someone else has seen his face, Kinjo's men stab Paul, hit him with a poisoned shurkien, and slash his throat, leaving him for dead.Paul awakes in a hospital room, where he is told that the wound will heal, but his claims of seeing Kinjo are met with disbelief by the police. He is soon approached by a man named Takeda (Yoshio Harada), who is an expert on the cult, and Kinjo in particular. Paul later discovers that Takeda is the last in a long line of samurai and has his own score to settle with Kinjo. After the ninja attempt to murder Paul at the hospital, killing six police officers in the process. Takeda and his wife Mieko (Yoko Shimada) decide to take Paul to their family's stronghold, located on an island several hundred miles away. In leaving the city, however, Takeda uses Paul as bait to draw Kinjo out. This leads to a battle on a bullet train in which several passenger cars worth of innocent people are slaughtered by the ninja. Takeda and Mieko defeat the attackers, only to learn that Kinjo was not among them. The ninja leading the attack was Junko, Kinjo's lover, giving the ninja master personal motivation to kill Paul and Takeda.While on the island, Paul spends much time with the drunken blacksmith Oshima, who is constructing a new sword for Takeda (he had furiously broken his own sword following the train fight when police confiscated it as evidence), and the old man teaches him about both smithing and swordsmanship. Mieko explains to him the history of the two clans' conflict as well as the samurai concepts of courage and honor. Mieko is sympathetic toward the gentle and compassionate Paul, the polar opposite of her moody and somewhat-deranged husband, although she remains fiercely loyal to Takeda.Meanwhile, Kinjo decides to find out who hired his clan to murder Kirina. The man he finds (James Saito) is a powerful Yakuza figure who bought Kirina from her father, then ordered her death when she left him after years of servitude. Kinjo, disgusted that he killed an innocent woman over such a petty grievance, kills the man.Three weeks later, Takeda's new sword is ready, and Paul's injuries have healed considerably. When Paul announces that he wants to leave the island and return home to New York, Takeda has him imprisoned and sends a message to Kinjo telling him Paul's whereabouts. Takeda's inexperienced samurai are overwhelmed by the hordes of ninja who arrive on the island, but Takeda finally gets the duel with Kinjo that he has wanted all along. Kinjo stabs Takeda through the torso; Takeda in turn manages to stab Kinjo in the leg, but soon dies.As Kinjo is about to kill a helpless Mieko he is caught off-guard by Paul, whom Oshima had released on Mieko's instructions. Paul stabs Kinjo in the arm, but now finds himself face-to-face with his would-be killer, armed with only a sword he barely knows how to use. With his new-found skills, a lot of luck (the injuries to Kinjo's leg and especially to his arm), and the assistance of a wounded Mieko, Paul manages to decapitate Kinjo, as he had done to Kirina.The film ends with Paul, Mieko, and Oshima starting to head up the hill toward the castle in the distance. | neo noir, murder, cult, revenge, violence, horror, flashback, good versus evil, humor, suspenseful | train | imdb | null |
tt0119396 | Jackie Brown | Los Angeles,1995. Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) is a flight attendant for a small Mexican airline called Cabalas Airlines which flies only from L.A. to Cabo San Lucas, the latest step down for her career. Despite the low pay, the job enables her to smuggle money from Mexico into the United States for Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson), a gun runner under the close watch of the ATF.One day, Ordell learns that another of his workers, Beaumont Livingston (Chris Tucker), has been arrested. Fearing that Livingston will become an informant in order to avoid jail time, Ordell arranges for his $10,000 bail with bail bondsman Max Cherry (Robert Forster). That same evening, Ordell promptly leads Livingston to his death by tricking him into getting into the trunk of a stolen car where Ordell shoots him to death.Acting on information Livingston had indeed shared after his arrest, ATF agent Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton) and LAPD detective Mark Dargus (Michael Bowen) intercept Jackie as she arrives in the United States with Ordell's cash and some cocaine that Brown was unaware was stashed along with the $30,000 cash. She initially refuses to cooperate with Nicolette and Dargus, so Jackie is sent to jail on possession of drugs with intent to sell. Sensing that Jackie may be just as likely to inform as Livingston had been, Ordell goes back to Max Cherry and sets out to arrange Jackie's bail so he can plot to kill her too once she is released.That evening, Max Cherry arrives at the jail to pick Jackie up and, only partly masking his physical attraction, offers to buy her a drink and help determine her legal options. Over drinks at a local bar, Jackie senses an attraction that Max has on her, but reminds him that she is not interested. After dropping her off at her apartment, Jackie steals Max's gun that he kept hidden in his glove compartment.Later that night, Ordell arrives at Jackie's apartment apparently intending to murder her. Jackie pulls out the gun she stole/borrowed from Cherry and she holds him at gunpoint. Jackie barters a deal with Ordell whereby she will pretend to help the authorities while still managing to smuggle $500,000 of Ordell's money out of Mexico, enough to allow him to retire and flee to some distant country and retire. To carry out this plan, Ordell employs a woman he lives with, "my little blond surfer girl"; a drug-addicted beach bunny named Melanie Ralston (Bridget Fonda), plus his friend, Louis Gara (Robert De Niro), a former cellmate whom has shacked up with him. Ordell also uses a naïve Southern girl, Sheronda (Lisa Gay Hamilton) as his co-conspirator to give him an alibi for when the transaction will take place.The following day, Jackie meets at LAPD headquarters with Agent Nicolette and Detective Dargus to arrange a sting to catch Ordell. But Nicollette and Dargus are both unaware that Jackie and Ordell plan to double cross them by diverting the actual money before the authorities make an arrest. Unbeknownst to the others, Jackie plans to deceive them both with the help of Cherry in order to keep the $500,000 for herself. However, in another twist, Melanie tries to convince Louis to steal the $500,000 that Jackie will hand over to them and flee the country with the money for themselves. Though Louis agrees, he does not trust Melanie for she might take all the money for herself out of greed, while Melanie clearly suspects likewise about Louis.After a dry run, during which Nicolette could observe the operation, the stage is set for the actual event. Told from three different viewpoints (a nod to 1950s film noirs) the exchange takes place in a large shopping mall near Los Angeles (the Del Amo Fashion Center).Jackie's version: At the mall, Jackie enters the Billingsley department store where she buys a new suit and enters a dressing room. Her real intention is to swap bags there with Melanie and Louis, supposedly passing off the $500,000 under Nicolette's nose. Instead, she gives Melanie only $50,000 and leaves the rest behind in the dressing room for Max Cherry to pick up. Jackie then feigns despair as she leaves the department store and into the mall where she calls Nicolette and Dargus out from hiding and claims Melanie took all the money and ran.Louis and Melanie's version: Louis meets Melanie at Ordell's beachfront house while Ordell goes to a local bar-restaruant, called the Cockatoo Bar with Sheronda to have an alibi to his whereabouts for the day. Melanie gets on Louis case from the start when they are late for the rendevouz because Louis finds Melanie wasting time by getting high in the bathroom with smoking a basepipe. During the drive to the mall, the stoned Melanie annoys Louis more by playing loud rock music over the van radio. During the switch, Melanie enters the dressing room at Billingsley's with a brown bag of beach towels to make the switch while Louis waits outside, where he catches a glimpse of Max Cherry standing nearby. Melanie exits the dressing room with the other brown bag containing part of the cash. In the parking lot, Melanie gets on Louis' nerves more and more, which finally leads him to shoot and kill her while making their escape after she mouths off one too many times.Max Cherry's version: Max arrives at the mall alone and at the Billingsley's department store where he eyes Jackie from a distance and tries to hide when Louis and Melanie walk by to make the switch, but Louis catches a glimpse of him as they walk by. After Louis and Melanie leave the store, Jackie, pretending to be in dispair, pays for her new business suit and leaves the store. When Jackie leaves, Max approaches the sales clerk and claims that his wife left a bag in the dressing rooms for him, which Max picks up the bag containing the $500,000 cash and quietly leaves the store where he drives to his office to stash the cash before driving home.Across town, Louis then picks up Ordell from the Cockatoo Bar where he soon discovers that Louis has only $40,000 in the bag (Melanie having kept $10,000 for herself after being tricked into doing so by Jackie, which is apparently left on her dead person). Then Ordell realizes that it was Jackie who took his money, and in anger, a suspicious Ordell kills his friend Louis. He is also concerned about the involvement of Max Cherry, having been told by Louis that he spotted Max in the store before the pickup.At police headquarters, Agent Nicollette is angry with Jackie for what transpired during the pickup (Jackie apparently told him that the money that she was carrying was only $50,000, not the entire $500,000 from Ordell's secret account in Mexico). Nicollette tells Jackie about finding Melanie in the mall parking lot with $10,000 on her, and about finding Louis a short distance away in his van. Nicollette tells Jackie that she has only one more chance to cooperate with them to catch Ordell and find the rest of the money.That evening, Ordell goes to the Cockatoo Bar where Max is and pulls a gun on him and demands that he help him find Jackie who has his money. Lured back to Max's office, where Jackie is said to be frightened and waiting to hand over his money, Ordell arrives armed and dangerous. Jackie suddenly yells out that Ordell has a gun and he is shot by Nicolette, who was hidden in another room.Three days later. In the clear with the law and in possession of the $500,000, Jackie decides to leave town for a while, and she invites Max to run off with her. Max is tempted, clearly in love with her as they kiss, but he declines to go with Jackie for reasons that are left unclear.Note: There are a number of hints during the movie given by Cherry in his dialogue with Jackie about why he makes the choices he makes and does not act out of greed. Some include Max's wanting to get out of the bail bond business and find something else to do to being too old to start a new adventure in life ("I'm just tired in general...."), but his reasons for turning down an offer to run off with a woman he is obviously in love with remains intentionally ambiguous at the film's closing. | comedy, boring, neo noir, murder, suspenseful, realism, cult, violence, psychedelic, romantic, blaxploitation | train | imdb | The big names in the cast like De Niro, Jackson and Fonda are all very good, but the real standout performances in this movie are by 70s blaxploitation icon Pam Grier ('Coffy', 'Foxy Brown', 'Black Mama White Mama',etc.etc.) and a revelatory one from Robert Forster.
The fascinating thing about 'Jackie Brown' for me is that Tarantino's critics accuse him of making shallow and violent self-consciously hip crime films, but the central story of this movie concerns an inter-racial Middle Aged romance, something I haven't seen done in a believable or realistic fashion by Hollywood before.
Contrary to Pulp Fiction which had a very unusual editing and flashy situations, Jackie Brown focuses more on characters that are basically humans with very focused problems, for instance getting older which is an eminent theme tackled in the film.
Jackie Brown on the other hand has totally real characters that don't come off as too over the top.All the actors in the movie are superb.The lead is played by actress Pam Grier who nails the role.
But to me, thats the heart of the movie, and thats why the movie works so well.In conclusion, Jackie Brown is not a graphic crime story like Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction that preceded it.
While some of the characters are as good as they need to be within the confines of the basic crime story, it is in Jackie and Max where Tarantino has grown up a bit - although in fairness this was an adaptation rather than his own script, but he still manages them better than some of his own thin characters.Following the praise for Pulp and Tarantino's ability to rejuvenate careers, he must have had no problem cherry picking for this role.
Fonda is really, really sexy and has some good lines while the rest of the cast do good work in small roles with people like Keaton, Tucker and Bowen in there.Overall I enjoy this film and can understand why it will never be loved to the extent that Pulp was and is.
The last scene in the movie between these two characters is absolutely brilliant.I highly recommend this film and it's fun to watch Tarantino mature as a director.
And Elmore Leonards stories usually fit the big screen very well, they are actually one of the rare occasions where i usually prefer the film to the novel.Tarantino sets a different mood here compared to the more frantic and violent Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.
And when $500,000 dollars disappears from his retirement fund, Ordell stops, thinks, and arrives upon the conclusion that we all anticipate with glee: Jackie Brown did it.His partner in crime, Louis (the wonderful Robert De Niro), also decides to double-cross Ordell, with the help of a sexy blonde ditz named Melanie (Bridget Fonda), The movie's twisting plot line and intersecting story lines is very reminiscent of "Pulp Fiction," and De Niro's underrated performance is a real stand-out.
I have now seen this film a couple of times and even from my first viewing I thought this film was great and got even better the subsequent times I came around to it.Jackie Brown is definitely a left turn from Tarantino's films as it wasn't an original idea but rather he adapted Elmore Leonard's novel, other notable work include Out Of Sight and 3:10 To Yuma.
Jackson on the other hand still brings his usual style that was also found on Pulp Fiction but he changes it enough that it doesn't feel like he is repeating himself.Jackie Brown is an entertaining crime-heist film that definitely needs much more attention.
"Jackie Brown", the 1997 film starring Pam Grier as the title character, a flight attendant who smuggles cash into the country for a shady associate, Ordell (Jackson) is the third film directed by Quentin Tarantino.
Rounding out the cast is Robert Forster as Max Cherry, Jackie's bail bondsman hired by Ordell when Jackie is initially arrested by the feds, and eventual love interest, Robert DeNiro as Louis, an associate of Ordell's who is fresh out of jail and about to buy in on one of Ordell's gun selling schemes and Bridget Fonda as Melanie, one of Ordell's women, and object of both fascination and irritation for Louis."Jackie Brown" features many "Tarantinoisms" that we have come to expect from his films; slick cinematography, a soundtrack that is perfect for the film (in this case, 1970's R&B) a rich cast of eccentric characters, a solid amount of violence and even more profanity.
As John Travolta was dug up to star in "Pulp Fiction", Tarantino resurrects two 1970's actors, Robert Forster and Pam Grier, and both prove once again that there are few contemporary directors around who have better gut instincts and an eye for casting than he.
I loved seeing Michael Keaton as a hard-faced, leather jacket clad fed, and Robert DeNiro, who can chew scenery better than a lot is fantastic as the quiet, shlubby and slobby sidekick.Anyone who approached "Jackie Brown" looking for a Pulp Fiction sequel was probably either somewhat disappointed or, like me, encouraged that Tarantino can not only do flashy, but can spin a good story as well.
Before seeing his latest releases, "Kill Bill Vol. 1 & Vol. 2" I lamented that he possibly took too much time off between projects, but after seeing "Vol. 1" I quickly reconsidered, saying that if he is going to consistently put out superior product, he can take as much time as he wants.And that is why I look at "Jackie Brown", a film that wasn't quite as stellar or lauded as his others with a certain amount of fondness, because it is a great piece of work, without all of the flash, bells and whistles of its predecessor.
At first look not such a good idea but coming to "Jackie Brown" several years after its more or less lukewarm initial reception (released after so-called masterpiece "Reservoir Dogs" and the inventive and infectious "Pulp Fiction", "Jackie Brown" was seen as something of a disappointment) and being able to assess it without putting in context of Tarantino's filmography, "Jackie Brown" is surprising.It is, without question, Tarantino's most mature and complete work to date as a director.
The cast is a dream for this sort of movie, and contains what is as of 2008 Robert De Niro's last truly memorable performance, the music fits perfectly, the atmosphere created is the sort you can lose yourself in for the running time of the film (which feels significantly shorter than it is), and the screenplay, with its witty exchanges, striking characters, and plentiful plot twists, keeps the viewer more than entertained.
He's certainly not completely out of his element here, there's plenty of 70's retro cool in this film, but thankfully it is contained and kept from going overboard.Expect another "Pulp Fiction" and disappointment is an understandable reaction, but if you go into this with an open mind and expect nothing in particular you might just find that "Jackie Brown" is not only Tarantino's best but one of the most entertaining films of the 90's.9.5/10.
Quentin Tarantino follow up to the hysterical response generated by his suitably hysterical first two movies was 'Jackie Brown', an altogether more restrained film that garnered a somewhat more restrained set of reviews.
Jackson plays a criminal with all of the menace and none of the charm of his character in 'Pulp Fiction', while Bridget Fonda and a (cast against type) Robert de Niro are entertaining as a pair of useless crack-heads.
Coming as it did after critical darlings Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, it's perhaps not surprising that Quentin Tarantino's next film failed to - at the time - scale those giddy heights.
Other honourable mentions must also go to Robert De Niro, bringing presence to his small part, and his unlikely but fruitful pairing with Bridget Fonda, who matches him for comical delivery.Jackie Brown clearly lacks the superficial pizazz and deconstructed narrative that wowed everyone in Pulp Fiction, but in its place there is a clear, strong story arc and a slightly more human, emotional slant.
Arguably director Quentin Tarantino's greatest film, and his third straight masterpiece in a row following the creative success of Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Pulp Fiction (1994), with his firm grasp of character, narrative and dramatic involvement at something approaching a career best.
Unlike the first two films aforementioned, Jackie Brown (1997) is something an obvious step-back from the hip dialog, cool violence and narrative experimentation of his more characteristic work; with a mostly straight story placing the emphasis on the dynamics of the central characters and the continual themes of middle-age hopelessness and the need for fulfilment; all of which seems fairly radical when looked at within the context of Tarantino's career as a whole, and in particular his two most recent films, Kill Bill (2003-2004) and Death Proof (2007).
Unlike the more self-aware, post-modern self-reference of those particular films, Jackie Brown is an entirely low-key affair; built around an outstanding central performance from Pam Grier and an accomplished ensemble cast that compliments the character of Jackie - as well as the theme of people living off past glories - with Tarantino capturing the action with a restraint and intelligence that many of his detractors might conveniently choose to overlook.As ever with Tarantino, the writing is intelligent enough to support both the mechanics of the plot and the reliance on character interaction, with a lot of the film simply being supported by the complicated relationships between the characters and the downtime that occurs during the more obvious moments of exposition; with the two strands coming together on a number of occasions to show these characters as fully-formed, complicated human beings trying to do right, when all along tormented by the need to succeed.
The handling of the central theme of the film, of middle-aged characters looking back to the past and seeing only the defeat of their later lives, is brilliantly conveyed by the casting of actors considered forgotten or "washed up"; with the central performance of Grier as the still sassy Jackie Brown being matched by the performance of Robert Forster as proto-love interest Max Cherry, or De Niro as the past-it career criminal, itself a sly reference perhaps to De Niro's own drop in quality over the last fifteen years.There's also fine support from Tarantino regular Samuel L.
Although the story behind Jackie Brown was adapted from an Elmore Leonard novel, Tarantino uses the already existing characters to his advantage, capitalizing on their traits to and personalities to spew forth Tarnatino-like dialogue.
The opening is more in line with his type of films, but once it gets into relationships and more complex elements of story and character, the thing just kind of drags.It's got so much good in it, with great acting and great dialouge, but Tarantino just doesn't pace it right cause he can't handle a story of this type and the movie ends up feeling a bit boring, by the time you're finished.
This movie has all of this in spades, with amazingly fleshed out characters such as the bored, middle aged and directionless two central characters who form a silent romantic bond with each other (Jackie Brown and Max Cherry), the sleazy, cowardly, cunning drug dealer Ordell, his smart-ass girl Melanie, his ex-con friend Lewis, whose laid-back characteristics conceal a fearsome dark side and troublesome detective Ray.The dialogue again works wonders throughout the movie, the acting is pitch-perfect across the board, with Pam Grier, Samuel L Jackson and Robert De Niro being as great as you'd expect them to be, and Robert Forster and Bridget Fonda delivering career best performances and the movie has some amazing sequences, my favourite being the sequence filmed from three different viewpoints, followed by the sequence that involves a promise of waffles and chicken and a car boot (no spoilers for either).
Of all Quentin's films this has the keenest attention to character, as unlike a lot of movies that have hardly one dimension to the main role, this gives a past, a present, and a future to almost the entire line up, as this is as much Ordell's (Jackson) or Max's (Forster) movie as it is Jackie's (Grier).
He makes me want to watch a TV show about bailing people out of jail, which is something that never would have occurred to me before.In the end, there isn't a lot of significance to this story or the way it's told: it's just a very well-done crime film with a fantastic cast, a knowing but not excessive sense of humour, and some charming music.
Quentin Tarantino's much-anticipated return to film-making following "Pulp Fiction" is an intriguing character-drama about a cool-headed flight attendant in cahoots with a merciless gunrunner who ends up playing both sides of the law to save herself from going to jail.
With half a million dollars in cash as the prize, an air stewardess (Pam Grier) a gun runner (Samuel L Jackson) a bail bondsman (Robert Forster) an ex-con (Robert De Niro) a cop (Michael Keaton) and stoned beach bunny (Brigette Fonda) are all out to con one another and get their hands on the cash.The dialogue is very slick and clever throughout, and although its loaded with vulgarity; it works brilliantly.The characters are very diverse and each one is fascinating to watch, due to the great acting and the strong script.The direction equals all of Tarantino's previous work, and it blends the characters nicely into the story with craft.The story is a great slant on a commonly used theme, with more than enough twists and surprises to keep it stylish and fresh.Compared to Tarantino's other work, there is a noticeable reduction of violence in this movie, but it doesn't have a degenerative impact on the movie as a whole.Overall, Tarantino has done it again, its probably not quite as effective as Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs, but it certainly doesn't fail to entertain for a moment.8/10.
The cast is pretty much flawless - Jackson is as reliable as ever, De Niro turns in one of his best performances of the last ten years, Grier is really good in the title role and, based on his work here, I've no idea how Forster didn't become a much bigger star back in the 70s.
It was always going to be a hard act to follow classics like Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, and unfortunately Jackie Brown doesn't deliver to the standards set be Tarantinos previous efforts.
Pam Grier does a good job of playing the forty something caught up in money laundering and Samuel L Jackson delivers a great performance as Ordell, but the film unfortunately fails to grip the audience, and unlike Pulp and Dogs, this is not a film you will want to watch over and over again.BEST ACTOR: SAM JACKSON is funny, witty and truly scary as Ordell.
So she comes up with her own plan: double-cross both parties (telling the heat she's going to betray Ordell,, telling Ordell she's going to betray the heat), run away with $500,000, and buy a one-way ticket to Spain and start life anew, with lavishness.Whereas all of Tarantino's films deal with violence as part of the aesthetic, "Jackie Brown" trades pulp fervor for insanely sharp exchanges of dialogue, the only carnage occurring offscreen while the characters size each other up and entertain us with their canny games of one-oneupmanship.
"Jackie Brown", based on the novel "Rum Punch" by Elmore Leonard, was Quentin Tarantino's hotly anticipated follow-up to "Pulp Fiction".
Following the success of Reservior Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino's 3rd film, Jackie Brown, was one I was looking forward to.
Although you may think that Pam Grier and Sam Jackson are the film's stars, this movie is all about Tarantino's angle of vision into worlds most of us know nothing about (and wouldn't care for if we did).
However, in some ways, it lifted the film above expectations of the standard Tarantino production; instead of sitting there, waiting for some shocking violence, I actually payed attention to the story, which is more than what I can say for Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction(Kill Bill managed to juggle both things, Tarantino's style and a good, interesting plot perfectly, which is partly why I like it more).
Quentin Tarantino is one of the few filmmakers that will adapt a novel by a popular and well- received veteran novelist like Elmore Leonard, whose books are famous for not being adapted into very good movies, twist it into a blaxploitation homage, change the settings and a few things about the characters, and make it the best adaptation ever made of that author's work...save for Out of Sight, of course.
The movie accentuates Tarantino's love not only for cult/obscure films and pulp fiction novels but also for the forgotten movie stars.By handpicking two washed out actors like Pam Grier and Robert Forster to play the major parts in Jackie Brown, Tarantino, a self- confessed admirer of both of theirs work, took a huge big but his faith in them didn't go unrewarded as both deliver superb performances with Forster even getting his first Academy Award nomination.
Tarantino in a nutshell.Neither Grier or Forster had acted in a leading role for a long time before this film and this movie helped revitalize their careers.
Out of all the films in Tarantino's career as director, JACKIE BROWN is the one people are least likely to have seen.
Actually I saw this film before watching Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction and those two movies appeared a little disappointing to me because I was expecting to see something like in Jackie Brown.
I re-watched it and re-watched it again and realized that it wasn't supposed to be like Reservoir Dogs nor Pulp Fiction.Jackie Brown is Quentin Tarantino's most "real" film.
I wouldn't call it Tarantino's best directing job (that'd be Pulp Fiction) but it's a very good work that shows quality.Overall, Jackie Brown is a very good film, and I mean the word very. |
tt0093894 | The Running Man | By 2017, the world economy has collapsed, and food, oil, and other natural resources are all in short supply. Unable to meet the needs of the general public, the U.S. government has likewise collapsed and given way to an iron-fisted police state divided into paramilitary zones.The media is controlled by the state, and all forms of communication are subject to rigid censorship. Despite the jack-booted, no-tolerance suppression of dissent, a resistance movement continues to survive underground.A police helicopter flies through the night sky in Bakersfield, California. A decorated officer and captain, Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is piloting. Investigating a disturbance, he reports a food riot composed of 1500 unarmed civilians, many of them women and children.Police command issues orders for Richards to open fire on the rioters, and to slaughter as many as possible. Stricken with disgust and shock, Richards refuses to carry out the orders, and announces a mission abort. The lieutenant that serves as second is ordered to detain Richards and proceed with the orders.Richards melees with the other officers aboard the chopper and is handling them all, until he is pulled toward the back of the copter and proceeds to throw an officer forward against the controls. The chopper pitches over and Richards almost falls out of the helicopter. Under orders to detain Richards alive, the other officers pull him back in and bash him with a rifle butt, telling him he's going to fry for this. As a result, Richards is framed as the Butcher of Bakersfield.It's eighteen months later in the Wilshire detention zone. Prisoners are forced to toil at hard labor. Each inmate is fitted with a collar containing a small explosive, that will detonate if the collar is tampered with, or if the inmate attempts to cross beyond sonic boundary posts. Detonation of a collar is instantly fatal. Ben Richards is an inmate at the prison; the state has pinned the Bakersfield massacre entirely on him as a bloodthirsty rogue officer going against orders.A work crew is being moved to go beyond the sonic perimeter. A perimeter guard enters an access code to deactivate the perimeter just long enough for the inmates to pass through safely. Behind the guard, a prisoner named Weiss (Marvin J. McIntyre) carefully looks at the guard's monitor and notes the code.A few moments later, Weiss nods to Richards and a fellow inmate, Laughlin (Yaphet Kotto), who start a fist-fight as a distraction. The inmates all riot, killing several guards and seizing the control device for the sonic perimeter. Weiss enters the deactivation code- recalling it from memory.But other perimeter guards have become alerted to the revolt, and are using another control device to override and prevent the code from being accepted. More gunfire is exchanged as the guards try to hold the line. Weiss manages to get the code in, but the sonic deadline is not up, and one inmate who makes a mad rush for freedom is killed when his collar detonates. Finally the perimeter guard manning the control device that is blocking the code, is also killed, and the sonic perimeter is deactivated completely. All the inmates run out of the detention zone to freedom.Richards, Weiss and Laughlin are walking through a barrio in Los Angeles, on the outskirts of the working-class and wealthy-class districts of the city. A large television screen shows a reporter droning about various zone pass regulations and a midnight curfew. The screen then switches to a game show known as 'The Running Man,' which has become the most popular television program in history. The Running Man is a savage, sadistic gladiator-style program where criminals are thrown into a 400-square block area of ruins left over from a major earthquake, as contestants. The game zone is divided into four quadrants that the contestants must pass through. As they struggle to run through the zone, the contestants are ruthlessly pursued by 'stalkers--' gladiators armed with lethal high-tech weaponry-- who hunt the contestants down and slaughter them. The program runs three hours each week and is co-produced by the Department of Justice, broadcast on the state-run television agency known as ICS.Richards, Weiss and Laughlin meet up with a contact named Stevie (Dweezil Zappa) who is part of the underground resistance movement. Stevie and his cohort, Mic (Mick Fleetwood), have the technology to remove the explosive collars, and disposal units that contain the detonations once they're removed. As they work, everyone listens disdainfully to state-provided propaganda used to brainwash young children into believing in, and following, the behaviors that the state wants them to. The resistance is searching for an uplink to the satellite network that the media uses to broadcast the propaganda, that will let them take control of the satellite network and broadcast the truth of the state.Mic recognizes Richards and is reluctant to remove his collar. Richards has been branded 'The Butcher of Bakersfield' after being framed for the food-riot massacre. Weiss argues that it's all network propaganda and that they owe him their lives, though Laughlin argues back that Richards definitely isn't part of the resistance movement. Mic believes that Richards has seen too much of this movement, but Richards silences them all by saying that all he's seen is talk and dreams, which he knows isn't going to get anything done. He tells them that if they want to change things, they need to 'put up or shut up.' Mic is impressed and consents to removing Richards' collar.The next morning, Richards joins a truck ride ferrying barrio workers into the city proper. Richards' brother has agreed to help him get somewhere safe so he can try to start a new life in anonymity.We get a glimpse of the wealthier parts of Los Angeles as a limo arrives at the ICS television headquarters, delivering Damon Killian (Richard Dawson) and his personal assistant, Brenda (Karen Leigh Hopkins). Killian is the host of The Running Man, and a much-beloved figure for the state. Killian's charming persona merely being a front for his actual crude, better-than-thou personality quickly shows through as he shakes the hand of a janitor whose mop he stumbles over, telling him he's doing a good job, but making note of his name and, once in the elevator, warning Brenda that she'll be mopping the floors all week if the janitor still has a job the next day.Arriving at his offices, Killian consults with a 'talent agent,' Tony (Kurt Fuller), for potential contestants for The Running Man.Walking through the upper-working class neighborhood of the city, Richards arrives at his brother Edward's apartment. Knowing the security code to open the door, he lets himself in, and promptly notes something very wrong... the furniture isn't how he remembers it... and there are women's garments strewn about.It isn't long before the woman to whom these garments belong, shows up... a working class woman named Amber Mendez (Maria Conchita Alonso). Mendez quickly sets about changing into exercise clothes and tuning into ICS channel 1 where a workout program is playing, hosted by ten-time national champion Running Man stalker, Captain Freedom (Jesse Ventura), now retired from stalking. As Mendez is doing sit-ups on her exercise bench, the program is interrupted for a special news report on a door to door search being conducted by police for Richards, reminding viewers that he's the infamous Butcher of Bakersfield who massacred innocent civilians eighteen months ago. Mendez starts resuming her sit-ups only to find Richards himself standing over her.Richards orders Mendez to tell him who she is and why she's in his brother's apartment. Mendez says she moved in last month, knowing only that the last tenant was taken away by the state for 're-education...' Richards' face changes to show he knows that his brother has met with a very harsh fate. In the distraction, Mendez tries to run away, but she doesn't get far.Meanwhile, at ICS, Killian and Tony are looking through Justice Dept. profiles on convicted criminals and enemies of the state, for potential contestants. Unfortunately, Killian isn't satisfied with the latest potential prospects, as they are physically unimposing and wouldn't last long enough to give the audience watching the show, an entertaining experience.Then Killian sees a video feed of the prison break where Richards escaped from the Wilshire detention zone. Instantly his eyes light up with ratings points. Brenda reminds Killian that military prisoners are excluded from eligibility due to his department's contract, but Killian is undaunted and has some influence with the right people... he places a call to the president's agent.Richards has tied Mendez down to her exercise bench and is taking some time to learn about her... Mendez writes music and sings theme songs for the ICS media network. Richards is amused to find that her closet has a box filled with music and clothing that's all on the censored list and only available on the black market; something Mendez says everyone does on the side. Mendez watches distastefully as Richards scans her travel pass into the Cadre infonet to book a trip for both himself and her to Hawaii-- he plans to use her as a hostage and as a traveling companion who has the necessary clearance to travel. Of course, Mendez doesn't see any reason why she should comply with Richards' plans... until he takes hold of the exercise bench, which is bolted into the floor, and, using only one arm, tears it loose from its moorings, lifting the foot of the bench four feet into the air with her still tied to it. He gives her an unsettling smile and says that this is how he says, 'please.'At the airport, Richards uses a distraction and idle prattling, and the line of travelers behind him, to get past the front security checkpoint with Mendez, despite the two of them having only one travel pass. He maintains control of Mendez with a hand around the back of her neck, having warned her that he can easily break it. However, as they walk through a crowded airport corridor, Mendez sees a police/military soldier on a balcony above her and makes a move, pounding a fist into Richards' groin and screaming for help, yelling his name to everyone. Richards makes a break for it, running out onto the airstrips as the airport security goes into full alert. A police cruiser and several motorcycles give pursuit and take him down with a device that launches a heavy, weighted net.Richards is thrown into a holding cell where he finds himself face to face with Killian and his hulking, burly bodyguard, Sven (Sven-Ole Thorsen). Killian wastes no time going into his 'sales pitch,' talking about how he created The Running Man, but has a contract with the government, who sends him felons to put on the show. Killian was fortunate to be able to pull a few strings to get Richards as a potential contestant after watching a video of the prison break. Killian wants Richards to volunteer as a contestant, but quickly shows he's ready to blackmail him into it; Laughlin and Weiss have also been recaptured, and Killian is ready to put them on the show in Richards' place if he refuses to volunteer. As Killian points out, Laughlin and Weiss would be "B-list" contestants that would be fortunate to get far into the first zone in one piece.Richards is prepped for the show with several chemical injections that will allow show agents and stalkers to track him through the zones. He's then tossed into a holding cell that's quickly filled with knockout gas.The next morning, Mendez is watching a TV broadcast of Richards' capture. She's stunned as the report shows the ticket agent and security guard they passed, bloody and unconscious, and the reporter says that Richards shot them at point-black range as he entered the airport. Both men are at Cadre Memorial Hospital in 'guarded condition.' Mendez, of course, knows Richards didn't shoot either of them, and she's not at all pleased at the thought of who else could have.It's Friday night; time for the Running Man to go on the air. Large crowds assemble at the ICS game show stage, various social gathering spots around the city, and in the barrios, all eager for a thrilling show. Beautiful, costumed young women dance to opening music as the pre-show begins. A crowd outside cheers fanatically as one of the favored current stalkers, 'Buzzsaw' Eddie Vatowski (Gus Reithwische), arrives in a limo, and demonstrates his strength by pressing a special-made motorcycle he rides as a stalker, over his head.Mendez is on duty at the ICS headquarters, with a co-worker at a soft drink vending machine as Richards is escorted past; a court-appointed 'theatrical agent' reading a legal contract/waiver out loud. Richards and Mendez lock eyes as he is escorted past her; Mendez looking badly unnerved. She politely excuses herself, telling her co-worker she has some paperwork to finish.Killian is introduced and comes out on stage, easily milking the crowd for fanatical cheers and applause. As he opens the show, Mendez is seen entering a room and showing her employee pass to a guard.Killian has the main show announcer, Phil Hilton, announce tonight's guest runner. A monitor plays a carefully doctored video recording from the helicopter Richards was piloting at the time of the Bakersfield massacre, making it look like the dispatch ordered a mission abort, but Richards overpowered the guards and used the helicopter's machine guns and rocket launchers to slaughter over sixty civilians, including women and children. People watching the show all around the city bow their heads in numb silence as the doctored video is re-played and Killian gives a well-crafted closing to the video aimed at stirring the audience and all viewers into a frenzy and desire to see Richards butchered. Everyone responds appropriately as Richards is brought onto the stage.Mendez walks through a control room for the show and quietly slips into an information retrieval room as Killian continues with show dialogue; that Richards appearing on the show as a volunteer entitles him to various perks if he should win. Three running men from the previous season, named Whitman, Price, and Haddad, are shown in Hawaii with beautiful women; as winners from the last season, they've received full pardons and are now living a good life. Making sure the blinds are closed completely, Mendez starts looking through media folders in a cabinet.Richards is placed into a sled-like vehicle on the stage that will be launched into a tube-tunnel that will ferry him from the main game show stage into the start of the first actual game zone. No sooner do the heavy manacles close, locking him into the sled, when Killian announces a special surprise: Richards' cohorts from the prison break, Laughlin and Weiss, will be sent into the zone as contestants along with him. Richards stares in outrage as two other launch tubes open to reveal Weiss and Laughlin similarly fettered into launch sleds.As Killian continues his monologue, going over more game rules (runners have three hours to cross through all four game zone quadrants while the stalkers hunt them down) and working the crowd into a near-rabid state, Mendez continues looking through various media information folders. The sleds are launched through the tubes into the first game zone quadrant. Meanwhile, back in the private media information room, Mendez makes a curious find: two folders for the Bakersfield massacre. One media card is edited for television, and the other is raw footage. She secretes the raw footage card into her clothing and puts back the other one, closing up the cabinet... and a hand comes down onto her shoulder, spinning her around.Richards, Laughlin and Weiss arrive at the start of the first quadrant; their sleds halted by special tension barriers as ground crew get them out of the sleds so they can start running. Killian pulls a randomly selected audience member to choose the first stalker to send in after them. As she's given ten seconds to think it over, a small barker crew in the barrio ruins is working a betting board, taking wagers on who will go in and how fast they'll make the kill. The audience member chooses 'Professor' Subzero (Professor Toru Tanaka), a beavily built but squat man in a high-tech hockey outfit, complete with helmet and ice skates, and a hockey stick made out of heavy metal that can chop through solid steel.The ground crew, both on foot and motorcycles, herds the contestants through the start of the game zone as various other show staff are seen in a backstage room, including Captain Freedom, who does guest commentary on the show from time to time.Richards, Laughlin and Weiss are herded into the first part of the first quadrant; a huge indoor area where the air is very cold. A gate drops down behind them and lights come on, cameras coming to life as Subzero moves in for the kill. His skates giving him more control on the floor of the chamber than the running men, Subzero bashes them about and then pushes Weiss across the chamber like a human hockey puck... right into a 'hockey goal' that quickly snaps closed like a Venus flytrap around him. The audience and viewers around the city eat it all up. The audience member who chose Subzero as the killing stalker is given a number of prizes, including a 'Running Man' home board game.Richards and Laughlin try to get to Weiss and free him, only to find Subzero ready. Knocked against a chain-link fence, Richards tears loose a piece of pipe to which a coiled length of razor-ribbon wire is attached. He pulls it along with him as Subzero pursues him. Suddenly Richards dives off to one side, pulling the razor ribbon taut across the narrow corridor... and Subzero's charge carries him right into it; the razor ribbon wrapping around his neck. Richards yanks on the piece of pipe mooring, digging the razor ribbon deeper into Subzero's unprotected neck. Viewers all around the city watch, aghast and numb with shock, as Subzero falls. Richards and Laughlin mock Killian over their victory before freeing Weiss and moving on. Killian appears at a loss for words as he says a great champion has fallen... and then quickly cuts to 'important sponsor messages.'Back in his office, however, on the phone with an agent from the Justice Department, Killian is rather dismissive of Subzero's death, saying a stalker being killed by running men was inevitable, and part of the violent element of the show that keeps people in front of TV sets instead of picket lines.Back on stage, Killian is getting the crowd incited again, and has picked a new audience member to select the next stalker. He's torn between two of them and can't decide... so Killian offers a big surprise; to send in both stalkers together as a tag-team. Buzzsaw, who was the previous year's champion with the most kills racked up, wields an oversized durasteel chainsaw that can cut through almost any man-made compound. Dynamo (Erland van Lidth) is likewise big and burly, clad in a metallic suit covered with multicolored lights, with electrical generators that let him discharge electric surge... and he has a penchant for singing opera.As the stalkers are introduced, Killian takes a brief backstage break where Brenda tells him that ratings are up eight points... and she has more news: ICS security caught Richards' airport hostage pulling classified Bakersfield video files.Killian comes back on stage to announce another surprise for the audience, a special guest running man-- or running woman. Mendez is dragged on to the stage to be thrown into the game. Phil Hilton, the game show announcer, has wasted little time fabricating a whole propaganda story of Mendez as a school cheater, and a lifetime lawbreaker, culminating with having been a secret lover of Richards. Mendez is instantly disgusted at the lies spouted about her, but she has little time to berate Killian about it before she's fettered into another sled and launched through the tube and hustled through the start of the first zone.Richards, Laughlin and Weiss are crossing into the next quadrant when Weiss notices a camera relay that strikes him as odd; because it's pointing into the zone instead of straight up. Hurrying to investigate, he sees a number of camera relay dishes all pointing toward the middle of the game zone. This means that the uplink center to the satellite network is there... a perfect spot to hide it, a place where nobody ever goes. Richards is immediately at odds with Laughlin and Weiss; he wants to focus on surviving the game, while Laughlin and Weiss now have a new mission; to find the uplink center, crack the code and give Mic and his people the means to jam the state TV network and broadcast their own transmissions.As Buzzsaw and Dynamo are given a relay by the trackers on the runners' position, Richards, Laughlin and Weiss are trying to hide from a sweeping light underneath one of the cameras. As they're hiding against a ruined piece of wall, Mendez catches up with them... just in time for Buzzsaw and Dynamo to reach the scene.All four contestants scramble for cover. Richards hefts a big, thick piece of timber as a weapon, but Buzzsaw's chainsaw cuts it clean in half like a toothpick. Weiss and Mendez get separated from Richards and Laughlin; Dynamo pursuing the first two while Buzzsaw goes after the latter two. Weiss and Mendez manage to hide from Dynamo and stumble across the uplink center for the satellite relay. Insisting to Mendez that the resistance movement has spent five years trying to find it, and that it's more important than any of their lives, Weiss hurries toward it.Laughlin and Richards run through the ruins and suddenly find themselves in the cross-shine of several light relays. Buzzsaw comes screaming out of an alley on his motorcycle, wielding his massive chainsaw easily in one hand. Laughlin shoves Richards aside-- and the chainsaw slices across Laughlin's upper chest, mangling the flesh and bone. Richards ducks and tumbles to the side as Buzzsaw makes a second ride-by attack, and again hurries to tend to Laughlin. Turning again, Buzzsaw turns his chainsaw off and hangs it from the front of his cycle, pulling out a weighted bola attached to a long metal cable. He snags Richards in it and drags him behind the motorcycle across the ground. Viewers all around the city cheer wildly, eating it up. Killian gives the audience member who selected the stalkers, a selection of take-home prizes, again including a 'home edition' Running Man board game.Buzzsaw finally drags Richards past a ruined section of wall where Richards is able to wrap the cable around a piece of metal jutting from it. Audience members and fans all groan as Buzzsaw's motorcycle is halted, pitching him a number of yards forward rolling across the ground.Meanwhile, Weiss is leading Mendez through the uplink center and finds the interface. To his dismay, however, the interface is encrypted with a hexagonal decode system, an extremely tough form of coding to crack; certainly not something they can afford to waste any time over with Dynamo still on their trail. Mendez paces and frets as Weiss works feverishly to decode the uplink code system, pleading with Mendez to ensure that the code gets to Mic and the resistance if Weiss doesn't make it through himself.Richards slowly walks toward Buzzsaw. He reaches for the chainsaw when suddenly the burly stalker awakens, grabbing Richards around the neck. He yanks Richards down the ground and seizes his weapon; the chainsaw roaring to life as Buzzsaw tries to rip Richards apart. The two battle hand to hand as Richards struggles to keep the buzzing blade away from him. When Buzzsaw taunts Richards, the ex-cop reaches down deep for extra strength and pushes Buzzsaw's arms down, forcing him to twist the chainsaw further downward. By the time Buzzsaw notices that the blade has been pushed down between his own legs, Richards then yanks his arms upward... and the blade rips into Buzzsaw's groin. The stalker falsetto-screams in wild agony as his own weapon mangles the weakest part of his own body, and he crumples to the ground in a bloody heap. Fans all around the city again groan in profound sadness and grief.At the uplink center, Weiss finally completes the decode, making Mendez say the alpha-numeric code sequence out loud and memorize it. But time may be out for the two... Dynamo has found them. Raising his arms, Dynamo looses a surge of electric charge, blasting into the two of them. Mendez is hurt but alive... but Weiss, still touching the metallic housing of the uplink interface, takes the full blast of the discharge, and is killed.Richards hears Mendez scream and rushes to find her. Dynamo has dragged her out of the complex into the open and plans to indulge in a little fun before killing her. Richards runs toward them, yelling to distract Dynamo. The stalker sends a mild electric charge into Mendez's body to subdue her before sending a larger, lethal blast at Richards. Richards ducks out of the way, and Dynamo climbs back into his race-car-like vehicle to pursue Richards. The fans cheer wildly again as Dynamo, singing more opera, races after Richards. But Dynamo gets too reckless and caught up in the moment of the kill, trying to drive his vehicle up the same mound of debris that Richards has started to climb. Dynamo's vehicle overturns, tumbling back down the mound. Fans again react in shock and numb horror as they see that Dynamo is now trapped and helpless, without power to his surge generators, as Richards advances toward him with a huge piece of metal pipe.Even more stunning, however, is when Richards slowly tells Dynamo that he refuses to kill a helpless human; even a bloodthirsty, ruthless killer like Dynamo. The amount of boos and jeers from the equally bloodthirsty fans is shocking.Richards drops the pipe and walks off with Mendez, who sadly tells him that Weiss is dead; but she has the uplink code for the satellite relay. They find their way back to Laughlin, who is on the verge of death. With his dying words, Laughlin pleads with Richards not to let his and Weiss' deaths be in vain; to carry out their mission and get the uplink codes to Mic, who has a broadcast center in the fourth quadrant of the game zone. Knowing that Laughlin died for him, Richards is filled with the resolve to avenge him.Back in the locker room, a woman's voice comes over speakers, summoning 'Fireball' to wardrobe. A tall, burly man among the viewers (Jim Brown) slowly nods and rises to his feet as Killian, still on stage, calls for the halftime show.A monitor near Richards and Mendez lights up with a video transmission from Killian, who's in his office only with Sven, Brenda, Tony, and a couple of camera personnel. Killian is delighted with Richards' performance and the super-high ratings for the show. Richards listens in disbelief as Killian offers him a three-year contract deal to become a stalker on The Running Man, complete with a lot of trappings wholly unavailable to most people. Ripping a camera off its moorings and glaring into it, Richards vows that he's going to survive, and win, and come back for Killian himself... and kill him in brutal fashion.Just as Richards hurls the camera to the ground, smashing it, the phone rings in Killian's office. Brenda tells him the attorney general is calling.Fireball comes onto the stage to roaring cheers and applause. He wears a flame-retardant suit and goggles, a rocket pack on his back, and wields a high-powered flamethrower. As the fans cheer, Captain Freedom, back in the backstage lockers, takes some pills with a drink and looks nostalgically at a poster of himself from his days as a champion stalker.As Fireball heads out into the zone, Killian calls another audience member up and asks her to predict who will make the next kill: Fireball, or Dynamo, who's not out of it yet. The elderly woman thinks hard, and suddenly announces that she feels that Ben Richards will make the next kill. The audience and fans around the city are surprised, but the old woman stubbornly defends her choice.In the barrios, several men suddenly shout that they want to place bets on Richards. As the idea catches on among the barrio viewers, the men running the betting shrug and agree, writing his name on the odds boards and taking bets on Richards.And the time for the next bout of action is at hand, as Fireball arrives at the third quadrant where Richards and Mendez have reached. Fireball lands and runs after the two on foot, pursuing them into an underground center and cutting them off, forcing them to duck for cover as he looses a blast from his flamethrower.Shoving Mendez to one side and telling her to run, Richards hefts several large barrels and hurls them one by one at Fireball, who catches them on his arms and shoulders, deflecting them to the sides. Richards kicks another barrel over, causing the oil within to spill, and then ignite from Fireball's flamethrower. The stalker easily walks through the flames, protected by his suit. Noticing a box of flares at his feet, Richards grabs one and hurries to meet back up with Mendez, who's found her way into the ruins of a locker room, safe from the ICS network cameras. Her leg brushes against something, and she screams in terror as she sees a decaying corpse at her feet. Fireballs hears her scream and zeroes in.Regaining her composure, Mendez notes that there are three corpses; each one with an identifying dog tag around their neck. She goes to examine the dog tags... and notes that two of them bear the names Whitman and Price. As she goes to the third one, Fireball comes there, telling her that the third one is Haddad. The winners of the last season was another state lie. Slowly Fireball turns his flamethower's nozzle toward her, ready to make the kill.Suddenly Richards is behind Fireball, yanking the gas line out of his rocket pack and kicking him into the lockers. As Fireball struggles to regain his bearings, Richards scoops up Mendez and ignites the flare, tossing it at Fireball's feet. The gas leak in Fireball's rocket pack explodes violently, the inferno reaching out where the ICS cameras pick it up, and blasting Fireball's charred corpse into full view. The fans are in dismay again, seeing that Richards has taken another stalker down. The barrio bettors, however, are pleased, having won big money on Richards.In the ICS backstage lockers, Captain Freedom is summoned to wardrobe.Killian and Brenda are looking at monitor relays grimly when Captain Freedom bursts in, outfitted in a high tech suit; the chestpiece laden with a number of weapons. Freedom is outraged at the suit he's been made to put on, refusing to go out and stalk while weighted down in it. Although he misses his days as a champion stalker, he refuses to play by modern rules. Ten years ago at the height of his stalking days, he went out and killed runners with his bare hands, adhering to a strict gladiatorial code of honor. Killian is equally outraged at Captain Freedom's continued belief in this system, reminding him that people are betting on Richards winning the game, which would create a lot of unrest among people yearning for more personal liberties. Finally losing his patience, Killian yells at Sven to escort Captain Freedom out, even insulting the bodyguard by asking him if steroids are making him deaf. Sven finally turns and gives Captain Freedom a shrug, and the now-ex announcer storms out.Richards and Mendez have made it to the fourth quadrant and are looking for Mic's secret broadcast center. It's Mic who finds them first, after they blithely walk right into one of his own traps. Mic could afford to take no chances about the location of the resistance hideout and broadcast center being discovered, which is why he couldn't send any help to Richards. But now, safe from ICS cameras, he's come for them and brings them to the relative safety of his broadcast center.Meanwhile, needing to bring the show (and any budding hopes among the populace) to a successful close, Richards is having Tony work his digital CGI magic, taking snippets of various media logs, to synthesize a staged battle between Richards and Captain Freedom.In the secret resistance broadcast center, excitement runs high as Mendez announces that she has the satellite uplink code, meaning Weiss and Laughlin's deaths won't be in vain. Just then, TV sets in the center buzz with renewed action from the game show. Killian has taken the stage and is telling fans that the runners have entered the final quad, and Captain Freedom has come out of retirement to finish them. The synthesized mock-up CGI battle scene is played for the unsuspecting fans, showing Richards and Mendez falling into the final game zone through a chute. Captain Freedom grabs Mendez by the scruff of her neck, lifts her up and fatally breaks her neck, and hurls her into a coil of razor ribbon, killing her. Richards engages Captain Freedom in a brutal hand-to-hand fight before Freedom charges ahead, taking Richards off balance and forcing him back-first into a heavily spiked gate. The fans all go bonkers as Phil Hilton announces that Captain Freedom has succeeded in finishing off the last two runners, upholding his name and reputation as all-time champion stalker.Richards and Mendez are only mildly amused at the synthesized battle. It does give them the convenience of everyone thinking they're dead, which buys them time to help Mic plan an uprising. Once Mic steals the network signal, ICS will attempt to shunt the next one in orbit. He needs to send Stevie in with a team to the ICS building to stop them. Richards, seeing them as untrained kids, offers to help lead them, so he can fulfill his vow to Killian that he'd be back for retaliation.Mic says he'll be sending the uplink code in twenty minutes, and ten seconds later, he'll be on the air. Mendez tells him to can any planned speech; she has something better... the raw, unedited footage of the Bakersfield massacre. She hefts an automatic machine pistol and smiles smugly, preparing to help storm the ICS building with Richards and Stevie.The raid team storms in through the basement as Running Man dancers are doing their part in wrapping up the post-game show. Killian takes the stage, handling the post-game with his usual charm. But Killian is in for a rude surprise as Mic successfully hijacks the network signals with the uplink code and plays unedited footage for people watching the post-game all around the city: first revealing the true fates of the previous season winners, Whitman, Price, and Haddad... and then playing the unedited footage of the Bakersfield massacre, showing that the state carried it out and then left Richards as the scapegoat. Everyone watches in absolute dizzied shock as the unedited footage is being played out. Brenda and Tony, in the control room, realize the signal is coming from the network satellite, but Stevie and his team come barging in with guns pointed to stop any attempts to override.On stage, Killian frantically tries to calm the fans when Richards comes busting in with his half of the resistance team. People watching the end of the show in bars and social centers around the city find out the full truth of things as ICS/army soldiers open fire at Richards-- and indiscriminately kill anything moving, including innocent civilian audience members trying to flee in terror, while Richards and his team do everything in their power to herd the audience to safety and keep them out of the line of fire.Meanwhile, in a backstage corridor, Mendez is keeping guard when she suddenly finds Dynamo standing behind her. Knocking Mendez down, Dynamo plans to rape her before killing her since he failed to do it earlier in the game zone. Seeing Mendez reach for her gun, he grabs her wrist, wrestling for control of the gun. The weapon goes off and activates the overhead sprinklers, which short out the electrical controls in Dynamo's light suit, electrocuting him.Richards and his team finish taking out the police soldiers, but Killian seems unafraid and smug as Richards approaches him; Sven is on the scene. But Sven merely throws Killian's remark about Sven being a steroid junkie, back in his face, before giving Richards a polite nod and half-smile, and walking off stage, leaving Killian at the mercy of a very angry Richards.Forgetting that the cameras are still rolling, Killian tries to reason with Richards, giving a smooth pitch about how American people grow up on a diet of television and TV violence, and for fifty years, media and marketing experts have exploited this to go further than giving them wrestling and game shows, using commercial advertisements to tell people what to eat, how to dress, practically how to live.Richards pays no attention as he activates the sled controls at the launch tube. Grabbing Killian, Richards admits he hasn't been in show business long, but he's learned very quickly, and he thinks that right now, people would like a little something else.Richards slams Killian down onto the sled's chair, and the manacles snap shut, fettering him in place. Richards launches the sled through the tubes. Killian hurtles through the tube system, out into the beginning of the first game zone. With the ground crew and barriers gone, the sled continues hurtling through the air until it crashes into an advertisement poster for Cadre cola, and explodes, killing the entertainment kingpin. Fans all around the city and barrio, having seen the truth about ICS and Killian, burst into wild cheers and applause.Mendez makes her way up onto the stage. She smiles at Richards as he approaches her, and they start kissing. A large monitor on the outskirts of the city goes dark and reads, 'Please stand by.' Fade to black as the credits begin to roll. | comedy, murder, cult, violence, good versus evil, absurd, humor, satire, revenge, sadist, sci-fi | train | imdb | Directed by Paul Michael Glaser, the film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, María Conchita Alonso, Jesse Ventura, Jim Brown, and Richard Dawson (in his final film).
As a kid I always loved this movie is the third best action movie in my opinion I love The Running Man to death, this movie was also made after success of Predator with co starring Jesse Ventura who opposite started with Schwarzenegger in Predator.
Very underrated 80's sci-fi action classic, and one of my personal favorite films, I love this movie to death is my number 3 best Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.The film is very underrated and very bashed and hated from the other critics and fans.
The film, set in a dystopian America between 2017 and 2019, is about a television show called The Running Man, where convicted criminal "runners" must escape death at the hands of professional killers.1987 was a busy year for Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Given his meteoric rise into the ranks of Hollywood's action elite, he accepted the opportunity to play the leading role in two science fiction films within the same year (Predator and The Running Man).
I've always felt Predator is a superior picture to The Running Man (and imagine most sci-fi fans would agree), but when it comes to pure mindless entertainment, this is the disc to reach for.The action sequences were great outstanding, the CGI wasn't in it at all, it was barely in it.
The most popular "audience participation" game show is "The Running Man"-where convicts can win pardons instead of "parting gifts" by defeating murderous henchman known as "stalkers." The stalkers haven't had much of a challenge lately...until Ben Richards (Schwarzenegger) comes along.
The Running Man (1987) is a cult classic film with Arnold Schwarzenegger based on Stephen King's Novel the most underrated film and one of my all time favorite films, I love this film to death.
Mild SpoilersIn the near future, Arnold stars as Ben Richards, a wrongly convicted man coerced into playing 'The Running Man', a deadly TV game show where people have to keep moving to try and escape brutal deaths at the hands of the 'Stalkers'.
I wouldn't be surprised if I turn on the TV in the 'near future' and see a show not to far from this.On that depressing note, I must however recommend 'The Running Man' to anyone who likes the 80s, Arnold, ridiculous acts or violence or just a good action film.
All there is is "The Running Man"--hosted by Damon Killian (Richard Dawson, host of "Family Fortune" in real life)--a show that features convicts, or "runners" being chased by madmen, or "stalkers." It's a bit like a futuristic gladiator sport.
Films like these are not meant to be analysed, they are meant to be enjoyed, and THE RUNNING MAN certainly manages to do that.After a shaky start involving the worst title sequence in the history of cinema (although it's good to see the Sinclair Spectrum finally get global use!), director Paul Michael Glaser presents an eye-popping glimpse at the television of tomorrow.
It stars Arnie as a convicted killer (framed of course!)in the near future - Where TV is everything, He's forced to take part in a sadistic game show called 'The Running man' with an equally sadistic host played by real life game show host Richard Dawson in which convicted killers are chased by 'Stalkers' with Chainsaw's and flametorches who aim to kill the bad guys on National Live TV with the audience going wild and choosing which stalker will make their next kill to win board games and other crap, Stalkers have NEVER been killed on the show - Will Arnie & CO in their silly lycra pants kick the crap outta them?
With Richards now in custody he'll be the feature act in the next Running Man show where survive of the contestants, like Richards, is almost non-existent.Getting away from all the preliminaries leading up to the main event the film really gets started when Richards is given the chance to save his life by withstanding and defeating all the stalkers on the show who are out to finish him off.
With a new outlook on life and the sorry state that America is in Richards after dispatching the stalker squad that was out to kill both him and Amber turned his attention on Killian, who with his gang of goons no longer around to protect him, and gave him a taste of his own medicine!P.S Even more effective then surviving the game of "Running Man" Richards with the help of his late friend Weiss, who was an electronic genius, was able the break the secret code that controls the broadcasts of the country's media-via satellite-outlets.
If the film were remade today, it would have a little more resonance for a modern audience, especially with the amount of reality based television that is so prolific today.A straight adaptation from Stephen King's original novel (under the pen name Richard Bachman) would have been much more suitable, especially with the rise of shows like Cops and World's Scariest Police Chases.
(***Potential Spoiler***) The Movie is called Running Man, Its from the 80's, It stars Arnold Schwartzeneger and the Tag Line goes something like "A game nobody survives.
So if Dumb action movies are not your thing then stay clear and reserve your comments to yourself, if not sit back have a few beers, maybe some Snacks, get a few Friends round and enjoy 90 Minutes of senseless Fun.The Film is set in the not too distant future(2017).
Expect the usual Action and Violence seen in films such as Commando and Predator and of course a few Golden "Arnie" Lines thrown in there all in the pursuit of delivering justice to Richards' Biggest enemy, the game show host Damon Killian (Richard Dawson).If you want to watch a cinematic Masterpiece, see Casablanca or The Godfather.
If you like the film then the book will come as a revelation and you will see my point of view, but if you have read the book already, then give the film a wide berth as you are bound to be disappointed.However, it is not a total loss - viewed independantly of the book it is a reasonable Arnie movie, PMG does a pretty good job directing and the effects are OK for the time too.
Nostalgia overload every time i watch one these all CLASSIC movies of his.Any way Running Man is a fantastic Sci-fi Action Thriller that's brutal & exciting & so rewatchable with great music & a great performance by Arnie as Ben Richards!!!
This is probably my favourite Schwarzenegger movie or atleast next to Predator as i have so many fond & warm memories of watching this so many times growing up & the impact of Arnie as this big tough Action Hero surviving in this dark & scary futurist world & it's still comforting to him as Ben Richards today in 2018 as the world is a corrupted mess!!!
Yes a true gritty & violent Schwarzenegger CLASSIC & one of Arnies best characters & performances in this violent sci-fi action Thriller that is so perfectly 80's with IT'S AWESOME music that i love the score is moody & emotional especially the beginning music when they make their escape it's so good & gets the feelings flowing yes this is a great pure 80's action film but with a conscious about our world & government & entertainment & the rich & the poor oh yes theres alot going on under the layers & alot of important true messages & to be honest most of this has already happened by now 2018!!!
People are always going to remember Arnold Schwarzenegger's classic movies, like "The Terminator" franchise, "Total Recall", "Predator".
It's unfortunate that Arnold Schwarzenegger's performance isn't great, but the actor that really shines in this film is Richard Dawson as the host of "The Running Man" and a terrific, memorable villain.
The Running Man is a classic - classic Arnie, classic action and classic everything.It's about Ben Richards, a cop in a dystopian future who's framed for a crime he didn't commit (aren't they all?) and forced to 'star' on a futuristic game show called 'The Running Man' where prisoners are hunted down and killed in front of a live studio audience.It's a simple plot and copied quite a few times (the latest being The Hunger Games, which follows the same format), but it works perfectly.
Arnie is on top form - if you like his particular brand of acting, i.e. he beats the hell out of, or kills, anyone who stands in his way then follows it up with a glib (and pretty cheesy) wise-crack.I looked The Running Man up online after I'd watched it and, it's fair to say, that people like to make fun of the million or so plot holes in the film.
Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a wrongfully convicted man forced to compete on a "real life" game show where he must fight to the death with various past champions(nicknamed "Fireball", "Subzero", "Captain Freedom" etc.) in order to win his freedom, or a contract to be a regular on the show, called "The Running Man", hosted by profane and arrogant Damon Killian(wonderfully played by Richard Dawson, who nearly steals the film!) Yaphet Kotto and Maria Conchita Alonso costar as fellow contestants.Based on a novel by Richard Bachman(Stephen King) and directed by TV actor Paul Michael Glaser, action Sci-Fi film set in the year 2017 is surprisingly entertaining, with a witty and prescient script that correctly predicted where television would be headed, making this satire prescient in the same way "Network" became.
History has shown that this is exactly what happened.The casting is a pop-culture Cuisinart of the 1980s: you get Arnold as Ben Richards, the framed fugitive offered a chance to "run" for his freedom on the game show with the same title as the movie; Richard Dawson as Damon Killian, treating his role as if he were the host of Family Feud with the contestants using real guns; Jesse Ventura as "Captain Freedom" and co-wrestler Professor Tanaka as "Subzero," both "stalkers" who kill the "running men." Even Mick Fleetwood (Mic) and Dweezil Zappa (Stevie) show up, while the "dancers of the future" are none other than the Laker Girls.
This movie SCREAMS "80s." The plot is a good excuse for the action: Ben Richards is determined to prove his innocence, but agrees to be the Running Man when he is told that his buddies would be set free; instead, they join him as "contestants." Maria Conchita Alonzo as Amber Mendez is the standard by which one can properly judge Salma Hayek in the 1990s.The production value on the film was a bit poor, the lines were cheesy, and (at the time), the plot seemed a bit far-fetched.
Ben Richards is played brilliantly by Arnold as one of the few remaining holdouts against a government tyranny that the rest of America is all too willing to accept in return for good television and some parting gifts for the audience.The movie was way over the top, maybe even off the cliff for its time, but as with Back to the Future III, the "ravine" it appeared to be sinking itself into in 1987 was replaced by completed tracks in 2006 and beyond, and this movie will sail into the future as one of the more prophetic films of our time.
The Punning Man. Dreadful puns, mindless violence and 80s music (and general fashion sense) do not make for a timeless classic but the Running Man is still just about watchable due to its satirical take on what is the likely form of future or even present-day authoritarianism, in which tyranny is sold to us as convenience and entertainment.In some ways the terrible and dated 80s synth-pop music plays to an advantage in this flick, since it subtly conveys the superficial nature of such a society.But by and large the film undermines its own message throughout.
At most points, it is more action than science-fiction.Arnold Schwarzenegger's presence is quite good, and his typical violence and resourcefulness come across as well as any other film he is in - it's only that the too-neat plot and poor dramatic structure let it down..
The Running Man is one of Arnold`s best and most different films even to this day and when I first saw The Running Man I was so excited to see a movie like this.
It also has Jesse Ventura, the legendary Professor Toru Tanaka, Sven-Ole Thorsen, the beautiful Maria Conchita Alonso, Yaphet Kotto, Kurt Fuller, Richard Dawson, and Thomas Rosales Jr. who seems to always like death in his movies because he has been killed in such films as Universal Solder, The Lost World, Robo Cop 2, Predator 2, and among others.
Oliver Stone's war masterpiece "Platoon" wins the Oscar award for best motion picture of the year.Meanwhile, Arnold Schwarzenegger continues his glorious forward march in Hollywood, by participating in the blockbuster "The Running Man", initially conceived by the rich imagination of Richard Bachman, a.k.a. the master of horror Stephen King.In fact, the sci-fi action film, directed by the famous TV director and actor Paul Michael Glaser ("Starsky and Hutch") is far from being a horror flick.
Or at least it looks that way.The plot:Following the eponymous novel by Stephen King, the plot tells the story of the wrongly convicted for a massacre Ben Richards who is forced to participate in a highly popular reality show on TV, called "The Running man".In this show, convicted criminals are given the opportunity to fight for their freedom.
One must admit that the director has put successful efforts in his desire to recreate the futuristic, catastrophic and totalitarian society, developed by Stephen King.The Cast:The beautiful Maria Conchita Alonso in the role of Amber Mendez, the two celebrated ex-wrestlers Jesse Ventura as Captain Freedom and Professor Toru Tanaka as Subzero as well as Jim Brown, probably the most glorious NFL player ever in the role of Fireball, are among the most famous names in the cast.This is a Funny Action Movie because:Without any doubt, all eyes are on Arnold who once again steals the show and it is because of him that the film is so successful and laughable.
It has an intellectual backdrop and sometimes even surprises you with some subtle commentary, but should mostly be watched to enjoy a really great action-comedy with a bit of a campy twist.The Running Man takes a hard, yet highly entertaining look at what TV could become in a dystopian future.
All of those elements make The Running Man a fantastic SCI-FI-Action-Thriller that is Arnold Schwarzenegger at his best.Based on the novel by Stephen King(writing under the name Richard Bachman)and set in the future in 2019,The Running Man tells the story of Ben Richards(Arnold Schwarzenegger),a former cop who was framed for killing dozens of people and sent to prison but later escapes.
In the 1980s, adding Arnold Schwarzenegger's name to an action film meant big bucks for the studio, but not all those movies were worth watching.
The Running Man is a good movie with an average story,but still a very strong performance from Arnold Schwarzenegger,an actor that can make anything he's in enjoyable.The movie has a lot of great action sequences,but it relies way too much on action and not enough on story,something I find to be the most important part of a movie,the movie begins with a promising story,but once Ben is sent onto the show,it's just him fighting against people for about an hour twenty minutes.Schwarzenegger had a lot of very clever lines in this movie,but I really didn't like when he said 'i'll be back', it was a very stupid nod to Terminator,and the way Arnold said was very fake,because he knew it was a reference.Fans of Arnold Schwarzenegger will enjoy his performance and his clever one liners,but there is a huge absence of story in this movie.An innocent man is forced to take part in a TV game show in which gadget wielding killers will hunt him down on the streets of LA..
Arnold Schwarzenegger was still an actor without a State, Jessie Ventura was still
well, him too, Maria Alonso was just getting started, Richard Dawson was uh IS still a tee-vee show drone (and does a GREAT, evil job in this film he's in his element), Jim Brown was picking up a paycheck
hey, watch for Dweezil Zappa, Mick Fleetwood, and listen, I'll send you real fake money if you can spot an actor who played a role on "Pee Wee's Playhouse"!
THE RUNNING MAN is very different to the Stephen King book (who wrote in the name of Richard Barchman) but it's still not a bad film.
The movie ramshots over information about the setting of the picture just to get to the action of Schwarzenegger's character competing in the popular futuristic game show of the day called "The Running Man." This gameshow allows convicts the chance to try and escape from what they call stalkers and will give them they freedom if they do so.
This digression is not too far away from The Running Man, as it does often feel like it is directed at a younger audience, despite the bloody violence, it is very much a cartoonish and immature approach to what could have been a more cerebral comment on mass entertainment.Based on a book by Stephen King (Writing as Richard Bachmann), the film does have some interesting elements to it.
I mean Stalkers, are a lot of fun to watch because they're so over the top, Arnold does have some really good lines and scenes, the action is suitably entertaining and as a whole the movie doesn't overstay its welcome.
If you're a fan of 80s action films and you've yet to see this particular Arnold movie, then give it a watch. |
tt0108921 | The Secret World of Alex Mack | Alexandra (Alex) Mack lives with her prodigy older sister (Annie), her chemist father (George) and her business marketing mother (Barbara), in the modern corporate town of Paradise Valley. Located in Arizona, Paradise Valley has good weather but is incredibly small and has nothing exciting about it. Its main employer is the obscure and shady Paradise Valley Chemical Plant, where George works on various projects.Alex is thirteen and very concerned about her first day of junior high school. She considers herself to be boring and average, and to have nothing special that stands out about her. She's constantly in the shadow of Annie, who has extreme talents in math and science, and she's embarrassed by her parents, who don't understand her feelings. Barbara packs Alex's lunch in a Trollz lunchbox on the first day of school, and Alex heads out with her best friend Raymond (Ray) Alverado, a kid who, like her, considers himself to be insignificant. Immediately things at school go bad for Alex - her class schedule is ripped in half by a fat boy stepping on it, she fails to answer properly in mathematics class and Ray abandons her to go join the band club. Alex is also bullied by an athletic girl named Jessica for her hideous lunchbox but Scott, a jock kid, intervenes. Dismayed at her bad day, Alex walks home solemnly, muttering to herself that she's a geek. Meanwhile Dave, a truck driver from the chemical plant, accidentally hits Alex with his truck, spilling a barrel of hazardous chemicals all over her. Terrified she runs home, only to find that she now has several powers (telekinesis, "zapping" and "morphing", in which she can turn into a clear gel-like puddle). Annie and Ray keep it a secret, and Alex tries to live out her life as normal as possible, while doing her best to outwit Danielle Atron, the greedy and sadistic owner of the chemical plant and her security guard, Vince. | paranormal | train | imdb | "The Secret World of Alex Mack" was, in my opinion, one of the best shows in the twenty-year history of the Nickelodeon television network.
It was well-produced, well-written, and not at all corny (like most other Nick shows of its generation such as "All That" and "Kenan and Kel").
The chemical plant (along with Danielle, Vince, and Lars) portrayed the dark, evil side of town while the Mack family, along with Alex's friends, showed the bright, cheerful side.
We have seen so many shows in which the hero has supernatural powers, but the scientific aspect hasn't really been showcased since the days of Steve Austin on "The Six Million Dollar Man".
I originally watched this show because of the cute girls, then I realized how well done it was.
Great plot line, the characters are hilarious and I loved the different personalities of the characters and how they made light-hearted fun of everyday things like: big business, homeowner's associations, the gym coach, Dave, the environmental wacko friends, the Brainiac sister, dad, and her "nerd" friends.
The parents are fun too.This is when Nickelodeon was at it's best: Clarissa, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Doug, All That.I'm actually watching all of the shows in order on DVD, a couple a week..
I'd completely forgotten about it until I looked up the profile for that girl from "Dark Angel." I think she was that girl that Alex hated because she was dating the guy Alex liked.
I remember specifically watching the last episode.
Although, I didn't know, then, it was the last episode since they marketed it as the season finale, but it was a pretty good finale (which you could expect considering the gimicky concept.) Shows like this, "Clarissa", and "Salute Your Shorts" make me wonder whatever will happen with these shows.
They seem like too much fun to just never show again, but there aren't really nearly enough of them to fill a network.
Fabulous!.
Did I mention that is was fabulous?
This show was a great show to watch with your family.
I watched this show as a kid and I really enjoyed it.This show takes place in the fictional town of Paradise Valley.
Alex Mack who is 13 when the series starts, walks home from her first day of high school and her life is changed forever when she is nearly hit by a truck from the Paradise Valley Chemical Plant.
The truck crashes and the mysterious top-secret chemical spills out of the truck drenching Alex.
Alex runs home and discovers that the mysterious chemical has given her special powers including telekinetic powers, she can shoot electricity from her hands and she can morph into a puddle of silver liquid and travel anywhere she wants.
She reveals her powers to only two people, her best friend Ray (who thinks her powers are pretty cool) and her older sister Annie who is a scientific genius.
Annie does tests on Alex to understand how her powers work and considers Alex to be her secret science project.
Alex endeavours to keep her powers a secret from everyone else she knows including her parents.
Also Danielle Atron the corrupt CEO of the Chemical Plant knows that a child in Paradise Valley was drenched in the top-secret chemical and has these powers.
So Alex struggles with the pressures of teenage life while secretly using her powers for her own personal gain or to help other people.
I also liked two of Alex's friends.
Besides who wouldn't want to have those great powers (except for glowing when you get nervous).
Oh I remember watching this show at 4:00 p.m. during my junior high days.
It was not a pleasant experience because I remember watching it when I made my homework.Still, the show caught my attention when Alex displayed her special powers and dealt with the typical junior high problems.But the show wasn't all about adventures and special powers; it was more of an educational effort for a younger audience in order to get more interested in school and biology overall.The lead actress (can't remember her name and I'm too lazy to copy and paste from the main details) delivered a fantastic performance.
One night, about a week before the finale of the series, something seemed to dawn on me, it hit me like a ton of bricks.
It was portrayed as an evil, mega corporation who's motto was:"Progress at Any Cost." It was headed by a cold-hearted executive named Danielle Atron who would stop at nothing to find the kid who was doused in the chemical.
I sure would love to know if anyone else ever had this thought.
I joined the crowd of fans for this show older in chronological age, but too young to see it on television as a kid (no kidding, I was born halfway through this show's run) but the only DVD you can really get of it is the one for the first season because it has Jessica Alba in an early role, trust me though - whether you're a fan or not she is not the reason to revisit the show (I somehow managed to get a hold of all four seasons, in terms of buying DVD's that's actually an accomplishment, granted extremely minuscule accomplishment but an accomplishment nonetheless) I haven't watched the fourth season yet but the question would be if it holds up...
Yes, actually.The plot is that an average teenage girl wants to break out of being average at everything from grades, popularity and everything else in her life, feeling in the shadow from her high-achieving older sister Annie.
The town they live in seems like the boring, yet colorful suburbia that every person living in the suburbs wants it to be but underneath it is corporate greed as a plant for...
science-y things seems to run everything in the entire town (the theory that a hidden message is to not let corporations dominate our lives is something I totally buy!).
One day the transportation of their latest chemical goes haywire and Alex is caught in the middle which gives her superpowers.
The plot of the show from then is to have them try and live life with Alex trying out different things, using her powers to her advantage from time to time in secret and trying to stop the schemes of the plant to find "the kid" and other fiendish things.This show has a fantastic sense of humour for it's time and genre.
I was expecting either humour that would get dated to just have people like me go "What?" the entire time or really lame jokes that would be in a show like this (I mean, just look at what passes off as jokes on live action kid's shows today), but in all honesty - some jokes do get a legitimate laugh, stuff like how in kid's shows like this the parents being oblivious is something they do make fun of and that is refreshing in comparison to other shows like this.I'll also say the show has a charm to it that kind of makes it worth coming back to after all these years.
I mean while some episodes do steep into the kid's show crap such as a situation being "She's made friend's with a goth AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" The show very rarely falls into that trap, with one episode each season with a crap premise or inconsistencies that I think would be called out on even by children watching it.The last thing I'll comment on is something which like the humour I was not expecting - evolution.
Well Alex does get more powerful as the show goes on.
The crush Alex starts having in the pilot isn't the crush she's too nervous to approach for the entire run of the show.
There might be more considering I haven't seen all of it but the effects do get better (even if her turning into water no matter which season you're looking at looks like she's the T-1000) and the show is surprisingly more timeless then most.
Okay, Alex wears a cap on backwards and there's an episode where she gets a job at a video rental but honestly, that's probably all the "This is the 90's" stuff that doesn't get away with it slipping through and becoming timeless.This show is something to revisit for the 90's kids and if there are people looking for different kid's shows of that time then this would be a very good watch.
honestly, it's the one season with no "very good" episodes), I mean while there are bad episodes and over-the-top performances, this honestly needs to be seen again as opposed to fading away..
Yeah, I thought this was so cool, and Larisa Oleynik was the first crush I ever had (AAAAWWWWWW).
But since we couldn't afford to keep Nick, I couldn't see any episodes after Feb. 1996, and maybe that makes me think more of the show than I should.
And I still think that, because as far as I know, there are no plans to release this on DVD any time soon...yeah, life is mean!
I've found that out for sure (though you can find an odd episode every here or there...but I never liked the bootleg copies of things much either).So enough of my sad life:(....Most kids in 7th grade don't NEED powers like Alex gets to get them through life (unrealistic--for sure) but then again, how many towns have a super-evil chemical plants that is willing to do anything for "Progress at ANY cost"?
Gee this show was fun to watch!
My favorite parts were when the kids would have some reason to break into the plant (a video tape or something like that) like a kid's version of "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six" (which years later I got hooked on that game series for probably the same reason) almost!
Then you've got the plant's "security" team who are trying desperately to find the "kid from the accident"...very mean dudes (at least when I first watched the show...they seem more sympathetic to me now).
I feel rather sad for Larisa Oleynik, not sure if she minds this role type-casting her.....but it's what I'll always remember her by.Oh and BTW, the actor that plays Aaron Peirce from "24" is on here too as a school coach or something....too cool!
Maybe he can get the producers of that show to get Larisa in next season of "24".
The actress for Alex Mack was perfect but, the others could've been a lot better.
The plot lines were OK for the time, but they probably should've made it more interesting.
Like, having her fight crime or go for revenge against the chemical plant.
or 2) The actress for Alex Mack.
But, it was pretty good considering the time it was made in.
I'd recommend buying it on DVD and watching it if the mood strikes..
I look back on shows I watched when I was younger, and I laugh at how bad the acting was on some of them.
I just got the DVD set for this show recently want binge watched all of them.
Never knowing whether Vince was going to find her kept you on edge each episode.
Most tv shows didn't last long on Nickelodeon but this one managed to do 4 seasons, and with good reason..
Always watched Nickelodeon for cartoons or game shows as a kid.
I was never interested in sitcoms or the likes, but I remember the first night I saw a preview for the Alex Mack show.
As a child I rarely cared about watching things on a schedule, but this was definitely the first show besides Beavis and Butt-head that I grew to love and found myself watching every episode when it aired it's new episodes.
This was the 1st show Nick aired that actually had a sophisticated story, great acting, comedy, grew with the audience over 4 years, used very cool graphics and animation, and just stuck to it for a couple seasons (4 I believe).
I remember anticipating the final episodes while I was in middle school.
I remember wondering what movies with Larisa Oleynik be in, how popular will she become, and was very disappointed to only see her in 3rd Rock from the Sun and honestly no movies I have ever cared about.
Larisa Oleynik was without a doubt one of the prettiest child actresses growing up, she was also very sophisticated finishing high school and continuing throughout college.
Yea my 1st boy crush on a girl I would never meet but always dreamed of, I probably set my standards and likings to every girl that resembled Larisa (or really Alex with the chewing gum, happy attitude, good sense of humor).
Larisa without a doubt turned into a beautiful women, and I am glad she still acts and does material she loves and enjoys even if it isn't the biggest most expensive material.
When I think about it, I remember it pretty well.
I hope some network brings it back so I can see every episode.
Before I wrap this up, I'd like to say that I'll always remember this show in my memory forever, even though I'm not sure if I've seen every episode.
Now, in conclusion, if some network ever brings it back, I hope that you catch it one day before it goes off the air for good..
I love all the characters, especially Alex, who is the PERFECT woman!
Always makes me laugh and feel good when I watch this show.
Kid A may synchronise with EVERY episode!.
Well, it's about a girl named Alex who's a supposedly 'average' teen.
On her first day on junior high a 'cool' girl embarrasses her in front of all the older guys and then she walks home feeling sorry for herself and then eventually gets dumped by a truck full of a secret chemical made by the power plant which gives her the power to morph into a rain-puddle, shoot electricity from her fingers, and telekenesis.
(Sort of figures, don't it?)Alex has ultra-conservative parents who treat her like a three year old, and a genius sister.
And the only people who knew about Alex's power were her annoying nerve-wrecking best friend (played by Darris Love) and her sister, they keep it a secret out of fear that she will become the plant's personal lab rat.If this would've happened in real life, Alex would've been sent to a hospital and her parents would've had to know.
Another thing I found unrealistic about this was the way Alex and her friends talk.
If you listen to the dialogue carefully, you would notice that Alex and her friends all talk like philosophers, lawyers from Pennsylvania, intellectuals, and Harvard graduates!
Alex's wardrobe on this show was downright trendy and she and her friends all act like they're going on 25!
And these are supposed to be 'average' teens?I only watched maybe 4 or 5 episodes when the show was in it's infancy.
If you like to be entertained with unrealistic teen behavior and fantasy, then watch this show or something like it.
You would have to watch a movie like "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" if you want to see how kids and teenagers would really act!!!.
One of the things I like most about movies or tv shows is the fact when we can relate to said movie or tv show.
What really made the show shine was the lead actress, Larisa Oleynik.
One of my favorite episodes *SPOILER* was the one when the show took place during Christmas, and Alex was forced to take a job to try and help out with the Christmas chores.
During the course of the show, she ends up saving a monkey just like herself in superpowers, or at least she thing she does, and later mourns and hopes that the monkey turned out alright, which he does.
Alex, after going through so much trouble in the episode, still wants peace and happiness for others by shining a peace sign in the night sky with her powers.
I only hope that one day Nickelodeon one day decides to open up a channel where they showcase old Nick shows, with "The Secret World of Alex Mack" being in them.
Here's hoping that other people find out about this show and realize that it was quite possibly one of the greatest tv shows ever..
Spoilers!!!!This show is very good, its about the life of Alex Mack, a girl who is walking home after her first day in Junior High when a chemical called GC-61 is dumped on her, and this chemical has some unusual side effects...The show is basically about Alex's life, her sister uses her as a science project, her friend shares her adventures, and her parents have no idea, well not until the final episode...
The show started maturing in the 3rd season, soon Alex had a boyfriend, the show was getting more and more serious than before, and also kept getting better.It's very tough to place genres for this show, you can call it a comedy but there's too little humor, you can call it a drama but there's too little drama, you can call it an adventure series but...
there's too much normal life placed in the episodes.Vince was funny and creepy throughout, and boy could you have chosen a better villain than Ms. Atron, Dave is bound to make you laugh in all scenes that he is in.Annie and Ray are wonderful sidekicks for Alex.The Final two episodes are the best, wow!
When the bomb was set we certainly thought that Alex was going to die although usually the main character never dies, and Ms. Atron's threatning, vicious speech to Alex, and the wonderful meeting between Dave and Alex at the end, excellent, I rate these 2 episodes 1000/10.Kids and Teens have to enjoy this excellent humorous, exciting adventure series. |
tt0066735 | 4 mosche di velluto grigio | Roberto Tobias (Michael Brandon) plays the drums for a local Rome rock and roll band when at various time, he sees a man in dark sunglasses wearing a suite and tie, watching him. After the session, Roberto sees the man and follows him through the dark streets to an apparently abandoned opera house where he confronts the man and asks him why he's been following him for the past several weeks. The man declines such actions and pulls a knife on Roberto when the drummer gets too close. In the struggle, the man is accidentally stabbed and he falls from the stage to the lower level. Suddenly a spotlight is turned onto Roberto and a masked person on the balcony snaps some photos of Roberto holding the bloody knife.That night, Roberto returns home and lies in bed awake as his wife Nina (Mimsy Farmer) lies beside him. The next day, Roberto reads the newspaper describing the dead man and he receives a letter containing the identification of a certain Carlo Marosi, the man who Roberto stabbed. That evening at a get-together of several band members and friends at his house, one of the guests talks about beheading executions in Saudi Arabia, and Roberto looks through some record albums and sees the photos of the incident. Amelia (Maria Fabbri), the maid, sees him and the photos, but does not tell him that she knows. That night, Roberto has a disturbing dream about him being beheaded in a coliseum in Saudi Arabia when he wakes up after hearing a noise. Roberto looks around and a cord is wrapped around his neck. The masked person tells Roberto, he could kill him now, but will not for he is not finished with him, and knocks him out before running away. Nina walks in and asks her husband what is wrong and he finally admits to the accidental stabbing and subsequent harassment, and says that they cannot go to the police.Roberto goes to see Godfrey (Bud Spencer) (whom Roberto's annoys by nicknaming him 'God'). Godfrey is a beatnick artist living in a shack outside Rome with his colleague, a con-artist known only as the Professor (Oreste Lionello). Roberto confides in them about his problem and Godfrey suggests having the Professor keep an eye on him. Later, Roberto jumps out at a person who approaches his house in the pouring rain and beats him with a stick. But it is only the slow-witted mailman with a special delivery.Meanwhile, Amelia calls someone and says that she knows what the person is doing to Roberto. She wants blackmail money or she'll go to the police. The unseen person has a flashback episode of being committed to a lunatic asylum and being tied down on a bed.Amelia goes to a local park and waits on a bench. As night falls, the park crowd dissipates, and she stands to leave when she hears a person say her name. When Amelia discovers that she is locked inside the park, the runs along the high wall and cries out for help. A couple on the other side hear her, but the man is unable to scale the stone wall. Before he can get to the gate entrance, Amelia screams and is killed by the unseen person who slashes her throat with a straight razor.A little later, Nina arrives at a train station where she picks up her cousin Dalia (Francine Racette) and she joins Roberto's group for another get-together in the house of playing music, smoking dope, and political discussions. Roberto is the only person who does not seem to want Dalia there. Mikro, Roberto's band mate, asks why Roberto did not show up for rehearsals that day. Then Nina gets a phone call and learns that Amelia has been murdered. Roberto later has the same dream of being decapitated again and he wakes up when a noise is heard. He investigates but only hears his pet cat hissing. The next morning, there is note from the killer, and Nina is now frightened.Meanwhile, it is revealed that Carlo Marosi is alive and well, and eating at a local restaurant. Carlo calls someone and asks them to meet at his place. referring to someone being killed. At Carlo's small apartment, he tells the unseen person that what they agreed to in harassing Roberto and mentions the "toy" (a knife with a trick blade). Carlo had been approached by the unseen killer to set this whole thing up, but now Carlo wants to back out. But the killer picks up a blunt object and hits Carlo on the head. The unseen killer gets a wire and twists around the man's neck, decapitating him. The killer then disposes of the dead Carlo to make sure he is not found.Elsewhere, the Professor tells Roberto that he saw someone last night in his back garden, with his cat wrapped in a blanket. He tried to stop the person, but got hit on the head. The Professor tells Roberto that he may seek outside help to learn who is harassing him.Roberto goes to meet with Arrosio (Jean-Pierre Marielle), a flamboyantly gay private investigator. After the drummer tells the PI his story, Arrosio admits to never having solved a case, but is optimistic that his bad record will be broken. During a drive with Roberto, Arrosio asks him questions about his life and about Nina, when they met and how long they were married. Roberto mentions Nina getting a big inheritance. After dropping off Arrosio at his apartment, Roberto returns to his house where Nina is leaving town with police officers about the Amelia murder. She tells Roberto that she does not want to stay in the house anymore with someone stalking them. But Roberto decides to stay and invites Dalia over to spend time with him.That evening Roberto takes a bath when Dalia walks in and admits that she has had romantic feelings for him and the two of them make love. Afterwards, Arrosio arrives and is a little surprised to see Roberto with Dalia and that Nina has left. Roberto gives Arrosio some photos of his past and his family as well as Nina's and Dalia's. Then, they find Roberto's pet cat's head and wrapped in plastic. That night, Roberto has his nightmare again about the decapitation execution, and wakes up in a cold sweat. Dalia comforts him.Meanwhile, Arrosio is in his office looking at photos of Roberto's family and friends, as well as some old papers and financial records. He is getting frustrated at not making any progress with the case until something catches his eye. He begins looking through more old papers of Roberto's past. A little later that same night, Arrosio phones Roberto and tells him that he's found a "strange resemblance" in one photo, but tells him that it may only be a red herring. Arrosio tells Roberto that he's found the name "Villa Rapidi" and asks if anyone ever mentioned it, but Roberto claims to have never heard it before. Arrosio thanks Roberto and hangs up without telling him what it means.The next day, Arrosio arrives at the Villa Rapidi Psychiatric Clinic where a doctor tells the private investigator about a patient that Arrosio is inquiring about (the name is not mentioned) who stayed there for three years as a teenager, whom was diagnosed as a homicidal mania. When the father who committed the teenager died from a sudden heart attack, the mental symptoms disappeared overnight and the patient was deemed cured. The doctor also suspects that the man who committed the teen and the teen's mother there was not the patient's real father.Arrosio talks to various people around Rome looking for the nameless ex-patient from Villa Rapidi. He later visits an estate-turned-boarding-house where he talks to the landlord about the patient he is looking for. The boarding house is the residence of the killer. Arrosio follows the unseen person from the estate and onto a subway train. He gets off at the person's stop and follows the unseen person to the men's room where the unseen killer attacks him in a stall, and stabs him in the chest with a syringe of a glowing blue poison. The killer leaves, as Arrosio lies dying on the restroom floor. But with a smile on his face and with his last breath, Arrosio mumbles, "I was right...".Roberto learns of Arrosio's murder and meets with Godfrey and the Professor at a convention hall where coffins are being sold. Roberto tells them about his nightmares and Godfrey thinks that it might be a premonition of something to come. Godfrey suggests that someone with a grudge against Roberto is trying to drive him crazy and wants him to leave Rome at once. But Roberto refuses, determined to find the killer on his own.A few days later, Dalia calls the studio asking for Roberto, but he is busy recording music with his band. As Dalia packs her suitcase, she notices a strange similarly between a recent photo of Roberto and Nina with some unseen person in another photo. Just then, Dalia hears a noise and is frightened. Dalia slips off her shoes and sneaks up to the attic where she arms herself with a knife and waits as she hears the intruder looking for her. Dalia hides behind a door with the knife when the killer comes inside, then leaves. When Dalia thinks the killer is gone, she steps out of the doorway when a knife hits her on her forehead. Dalia stumbles down the attic stairs and is stabbed to death by the unseen killer.After finding the body, Roberto calls the police and they tell him about a test they will do on Dalia. By removing one of her eyes and shooting a laser through it, they will be able to see the last image that Dalia had seen for the image is retained on the retina for several hours after death. On a computer screen, they see only four dark smudges against a gray background which looks like, as the technician puts it, "four flies on gray velvet." The test is declared inconclusive.That night, Roberto loads a gun and sits in his dark home, waiting for the killer to make his move. He nods off and begins dreaming again, and his dream goes all the way with the gory beheading of a criminal in Saudi Arabia. Roberto is woken up when the phone rings and it is Godfrey asking if the drummer is okay. Roberto says that he is, and then the line goes dead. A few minutes later, Nina arrives home from her long getaway and Roberto almost shoots her as she walks through the front door. Roberto puts down the gun and tells her to leave and tries to push her out the front door, when Nina's necklace (a fly enclosed in glass) swings.... giving the appearance of more than one fly, and Roberto pulls her back inside and hits her. Roberto confronts Nina and accuses her of killing Amelia, Arrosio, and Dalia, and the one who terrorized him. Nina grabs Roberto's gun and shoots him the in shoulder.As Roberto lies wounded on the floor, Nina suddenly adopts a sneering, wild-eyed appearance. Nina mechanically laughs and she tells Roberto about her abusive stepfather who placed her in a lunatic asylum when she was little and when he died, her mental condition was cured. But when Nina apparently met Roberto many years later, he reminded her of her late father. So, Nina married Roberto and cooked up this whole event as part of her twisted way of getting back at her father, since Roberto is apparently the dead-splitting image of Nina's late father. Nina shoots Roberto a few more times in his arm and both legs, when Godfrey runs in and Roberto knocks the gun out of Nina's hands. Nina runs to Roberto's car and speeds away. But in a twist of fate, she doesn't look where she is going and rams into the back of a truck, and she is decapitated by the truck's rear bumper as it smashes, in slow-motion, through her car windshield. The car then explodes in a mass of flames. | neo noir, murder, allegory, cult, horror, violence, haunting, flashback, insanity, tragedy, romantic | train | imdb | Other visual motifs (crimson curtains, extreme close-ups, inanimate objects suddenly wielded by a seemingly maniacal camera) would be repeated or re-jigged in Deep Red, Phenomena and Opera.Argento's original intention was to have a gay protagonist and though the character of Roberto is still open to such a reading - his victimisation being as a result of a fear of being outed (as a murderer) has obvious correlations (note also Brandon's shaggy mane v Farmer's gamine crop or the rather tame bathtub scene with Francine Racette which sees Roberto playfully seducing his mirror image) - the more overt references are passed to Jean-Pierre Marielle, who brings immense likability to a small role and whose swish factor is tempered by a steely determination to finally cracking a case.
Argento's fascination with weird science (here ludicrous by design but ingenious in execution) gives the film its animal-themed title, and the finale boasts one of his greatest sequences - a stunning, slow-motion shot of a car impacting with the back of a lorry, which marries chillingly beautiful aesthetics to Hollywood folklore, scored with Morricone's haunting "Come un Madrigale".Four Flies is a solid giallo and an important entry in the Director's canon which bears repeated viewing, blurring gender roles and sexual identity, adding subtext and hit and miss humour, asylum flashbacks, well-executed deaths and a recurring nightmare in the form of a sun-bleached, public beheading - the significance of which turns out to be twofold.
"Four Flies on Grey Velvet" is the last film in Dario Argento's animal trilogy, which also includes the brilliant "Bird With The Crystal Plumage" (1970) and the very stylish "Cat o' Nine Tails" (1971).
While certainly not one of Argento's masterpieces, this strange, and highly interesting flick is nonetheless more than worth tracking down, for a variety of reasons.When rock drummer Roberto (Michael Brandon) wants to take a guy to task who has been following him for days, the guy threatens him with a knife, and in the subsequent scuffle, Roberto accidentally stabs the guy to death.
Sounds like the beginning of a typical Giallo, but, apart from the typical formula of a mystery killer, murders from the killer's perspective, etc., this film differs from Argento's other Gialli in a variety of aspects.
Dario Argento is one of my all-time favorite directors, and while "For Flies On Grey Velvet" is certainly not one of his highlights, it is definitely a weird and highly recommendable film that my fellow Italian Horror fans should not miss!.
And, as such, is an important entry of giallo cinema.The story involves a rock drummer who accidentally kills a man and is drawn into a web of murder by a masked assassin who appears to have a vendetta against him.The opening credit sequence is a memorable affair, incorporating pounding drums and close ups of a beating heart.
Argento more than makes up for this with stylistic flourishes like the nice camera pan of the phone wires leading to the location of the killer, the shots of Michael Brandon driving his car quickly edited together with his subsequent POV approach to the private investigator's office and the deranged asylum flashback scenes.
The opening confrontation in the opera house is stunning, and several of the murder scenes are particularly memorable and understated; the film does seem to have some stilted elements to it, including characters and moments that really serve no purpose, but the upshot is that they lend Argento more time to wallow in stylistics.
Solid performances from Michael Brandon and Mimsy Farmer really help bolster the proceedings, and Jean-Pierre Marielle is memorable as the flamboyant gay detective.I've read some criticism of the film's conclusion, and while I do find it to be fairly easy in terms of expectancy, it is a clever twist, and the slow-motion finale is mildly remarkable.Overall, "Four Flies on Grey Velvet" is an intriguing giallo with some great, understated murder scenes and a puzzle of a plot that engages the audience in ways which Argento would come to refine even more with "Deep Red." In charting Argento's career, the film is highly important, but even outside the context of his directorial trajectory, it stands as a solid, weirdly memorable effort with some rock'n'roll spirit and an extremely sinister doll mask.
Excellent early thriller from Italian horror master Dario Argento was a strong finish for his "Animal Trilogy" giallo films.
A unique film on all levels, Four Flies on Grey Velvet remains one of Argento's best pre-Deep Red (1975) films and it serves as a great omen to the stylish masterpieces that the director would follow with in the coming years.*** 1/2 out of ****.
Later, the masked assailant starts to send Michael Brandon photos of him in the act, and that's where the fun starts.Four Flies on Grey Velvet never quite reaches the level of adrenaline that Argento's earlier work, Bird with the Crystal Plumage, did; but a number of Argento's well known trademarks are here, including gruesome murders, a masked killer and numerous possible culprits.
There also a streak of black humour in this movie that isn't usually present in Argento films, shown by the detective who will solve this case because of his "Amazing record" of never having solved a case yet (great irony on his conclusion by the way), the disgruntled delivery man and the casket "party", which was both surreal and strangely funny.However, the film doesn't suffer much from the lack of bloodshed as there is still much to like about it.
This works well because it grabs your interest and keeps it, and that's what makes Argento movies great and a cut above the majority of other mystery thrillers.As with all Argento films, The movie starts to build more pace towards the end, and builds into a clever and satisfying solution as to who the murderer is and the means of finding out who it is, which is linked with an animal like in the other two films of the 'Animals Trilogy'.
Saying that, the end certainly doesn't ruin the film, it just isn't as good as it could be.This movie is recommended to anyone that considers themselves a fan of Dario Argento and horror buffs in general..
Recently an above average bootleg was released in terms of visual quality and a lot of scenes come to life and one is finally in a position to judge the film as a whole.Story wise, Four Flies on Grey Velvet doesn't win any awards but it's a good set up for a thriller.
But unknown to Roberto, someone wearing a strange mask watches the drama from the balcony.And so begins another Dario Argento Italian whodunit, the plot of which includes a blackmailer, a cat, a gay private detective, and a slow-motion car crash.
Creepy sound effects in the dark, low light levels in interior scenes, close-up camera shots, and a haunting score combine in many sequences to create a stylistically frightening atmosphere.As with other Argento giallos, the story trends a little weak, but that is offset by terrific visuals, sound effects, and music.
And "Four Flies On Grey Velvet" (one piece in the director's 'Animal Trilogy' jigsaw) is a slick giallo that is, first and foremost, a showcase of technique (a murder in an abandoned theatre; a chase through an empty park; a boy-masked killer), wherein Argento shows his mastery of composition, light and shadow, and perspective.
Blackmail and murder ensue...A step up from the convoluted machinations of THE CAT O'NINE TAILS (1970), FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET is little more than a dress rehearsal for the visual flourishes that would distinguish director Dario Argento's later work.
a running gag with Brandon's postman, culminating in what amounts to a criminal assault - played for laughs!), and while the horror set-pieces are often vividly realized - most notably, the scene in which Brandon's blackmailing maid (Marisa Fabbri) finds herself trapped in a lonely park with the killer, a sequence which refers backward to a similar scenario in Jacques Tourneur's THE LEOPARD MAN (1943) and forward to John Saxon's final sequence in Argento's TENEBRAE (1982) - the pace is labored and dull, especially during expository dialogue scenes.Mimsy Farmer makes a fair impression as Brandon's nervous wife, while popular Italian character actor Bud Spencer (Carlo Pedersoli) plays Brandon's closest friend, a bad-tempered fisherman who helps him solve the unfolding mystery.
All in all, a minor entry in the director's filmography, elevated to mythic status by legal problems which have prevented its appearance on home video, and while the film exercises a gamut of stylistic concerns (Argento followed it with an unlikely detour into historical comedy, FIVE DAYS OF MILAN, before cutting loose with his giallo masterpiece DEEP RED), it amounts to little more than a footnote in horror history.(English version).
Argento isn't exactly known for his sense of humor, but this film features a lot of it, like a sub plot about a homosexual private detective, a simple-minded mailman who keeps on delivering wrong parcels and the hilarious "Queer Frankenstein" story narrated by one of the insignificant supportive characters.
The story is engaging and interesting right from the get-go as a man, Roberto, is tormented by a man who he ends up 'accidentally murdering.' The plot twists and turns in typical Argento fashion until we finally learn who the real killer is.
Fluid camera moves; inventive POV shots; women in peril; hypnotic dreamlike sequences; stylish death scenes; a whispering masked killer: this early giallo from Italian horror master Dario Argento sees the director experimenting with many of what would later become his trademarks.
But with a rather dreary and poorly paced storyline, unwisely littered with some pretty crap attempts at comedy, Four Flies On Grey Velvet (one of Argento's harder-to-find movies) is definitely one of his weaker efforts.Michael Brandon (yes, the star of 80s ITV series Dempsey and Makepeace) plays a musician who believes that he has killed a man, after accidentally stabbing him.
Although there are a couple of genuinely tense moments, nothing in this film really qualifies as 'classic' Argento.Perhaps it is the lack of a decent soundtrack that hampers the movies's success (Ennio Morricone's score is not very memorable); maybe it is Brandon's bland protagonist that lets the film down (he isn't all that likable, seeing as he shags his wife's cousin as soon as she is out of sight); possibly the inclusion of several seriously annoying characters is why the film fails (the overly camp private-eye, the silly postman used for light relief, and Bud Spencer's scruffy lowlife 'God').
Working with his rock group, a musician who accidentally killed the stalker after him realizes a masked man photographed the incident and begins a rampage around the city murdering his friends and enlists the help of a private eye to figure out the culprit before it's too late.This here was a really interesting and enjoyable Giallo.
Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Final film in Argento's animal trilogy has a musician (Michael Brandon) accidentally killing a stalker but then the real trouble starts when another stalker shows up trying to kill him.
Unlike the other stars, Tony Mustane from Bird With the Crystal Plumage, and James Franciscus from Cat O'Nine Tales, Michael Brandon's character of Roberto Tobias is not well liked for his casual ability to do bad things such as seducing his wife's cousin and playing jokes on people.The movie opens with like a rock music video of Roberto Tobias playing his drums with a rock band at a recording studio when he notices a strange man dressed in all black and wearing dark sunglasses.
It stars Michael Brandon as Roberto Tobias and Mimsy Farmer as his wife, Nina Tobias, and is the third and final film in the unofficial 'Animal Trilogy', the others being The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and The Cat O'Nine Tails.
I have been waiting a long time to view this film, after the first 2 parts in Argento's brilliant animal trilogy "Bird with the Crystal Plumage" and "Cat O' Nine Tails" which were both excellent in their own ways, and "Four Flies on Grey Velvet" has always been hard to find and perhaps least remembered.
A mysterious masked stranger took photographs of the entire incident and later begins to taunt him and starts to murder people in his life.Okay "Four Flies" may lack the elegance and style of the first part of the animal trilogy, but it still packs a punch, especially the masked stranger, with that freaky mask which is truly terrifying and you definitely feel a sense of dread whenever this person is around and the opening of this movie was a very interesting concept and then the growing paranoia of the lead character begins to grow and grow as he wonders what's gonna happen next is truly tense.
The acting is excellent too and I was hooked till the end.Some complain that it moves slowly but most of Argento's flicks "Suspiria", "Inferno" all start slow with twists and murders thrown in to keep the viewer entertained.This movie is well directed and shot and musical score is good as well.Michael Brandon is Roberto Tobias a guy whose paranoid that someone's following him, and he daydreams about a gory beheading throughout the movie.
After having been gripped by Dario Argentos stunning first film: The bird with the crystal plumage,I instantly went searching for his next film,which I found out was call The Cat 'O Nine Tails.Almost as soon as the DVD had landed in my post box,I rushed to watch it right away.Sadly,from about the 30 minute mark,I had to stop playing the film,due to the appalling sound,and the picture looking like someone had chucked a yellow (giallo!) can of paint over the film.Not giving up to easily on Argentos films,I went looking to find the film he had made after Cat,and happily this led me to finding a very good DVD,of this stunning, sadly forgotten film.The plot: After having finished a recording session with his band,drummer Roberto Tobias leaves the studio feeling pretty happy with how the sessions are going.Almost as soon as he has left the studio last few day.Aproching him,the stalker makes a run for it,which leads to him entering an empty theatre.When Roberto tries to confront the man about why he has been stalking him,the man suddenly pulls out a knife.During the struggle to free the knife from the stalker,Tobias ends up accidentally stabbing the man.As the blood pours out of the now deceased stalker,Roberto hears the click of a camera, hidden up at the podium of the stage.Tobias spots that there is a masked person,who is taking photos of him with the knife.Fearing that something very bad is happening,Roberto makes a run for it.Later on that night,whilst he is trying to peacefully sleep in his bed,with his girlfriend by his side Tobias experiences an extremely strange dream,which involves him being beheaded in a public execution.The next day Roberto decides to discuss the dream with some of his friends,who have come over to spend some time with the couple.Near the end of the night,Roberto gets in the mood of putting some music on for him and his friends.Just as he is about to finish getting the record out of the sleeve,the passport of the man he killed suddenly appears!.Later on in the night,Tobias suddenly gets a tight rope wrapped round his neck.Whilst he tries to free himself,the masked aslant steps out of the shadow to announce that,although they could kill him right now,it would really ruin all the "fun" that they went to put Roberto through.Fearing for his life,Roberto goes to meet an "adviser" who lives on the outskirts of the town called God (although God keeps pointing out that he would much prefer if people called him by his full name:Godfreey.)With Godfreeys help,Roberto gets in contact with a privet detective who feels that luck is now on his side,due to having failed to solve any of his last 80 cases!.As the detective starts digging round for the person that is trying to blackmail and terrorise Roberto,he begins to gather evidence that the killer might be closer to Roberto then any of them could have imagine.Although the detective himself does not realise that along with Roberto,the masked psycho is also spying on him..
Four Flies on Grey Velvet like most of Dario Argento's films is striking in its use of music, editing, and cinematography, but otherwise it is confusing, talky, aimless and slow moving.
4 Flies On Grey Velvet was the last entry in his 'Animal Trilogy', and if Argento hadn't made another giallo again he'd have a consistent body of work to be proud of.The movie introduces us to bass player Roberto Tobias (Michael Brandon), member of a funky band, married to Nina (Mimsy Farmer) a beautiful and rich woman.
The last theme in the movie is one of the most beautiful Morricone has ever composed, an orchestral piece with vocals that transmits sadness and tragedy, much like the end of the movie itself.All in all, 4 Flies On Grey Velvet would have been a great finale for Dario Argento's work in the giallo.
Roberto can't go to the police as he will implicate himself in a murder so he is at the mysterious persons mercy, but if not money what do they want?This Italian French co-production was co-written & directed by Dario Argento, the third part of his fan coined 'animal' trilogy of Giallo made back to back with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) & The Cat 'o Nine Tails (1971).
Dario Argento, master of slasher-surrealism, made the interesting Four Flies on Grey Velvet in 1971
and it combines the low-key elements of his early Giallo period with the more colorful visual experimentation of his later films.Roberto, a drummer in a psychedelic rock band, is being stalked by a man in fedora and sunglasses. |
tt1262945 | Puen yai jon salad | Queen Hijau (The Green Queen) of Pattani faces overthrow by the rebel Prince Rawai, who is allied with pirate captain Black Raven. The pirates attempt to capture a huge cannon built by Dutchman Janis Bree and Chinese inventor Lim Kiam, but the Dutch ship carrying the cannon blows up and the cannons sink into the sea.
Meanwhile, an orphaned sea gypsy boy named Pari (meaning "stingray") lies in a fishing village which is constantly under attack by Black Raven's raiding parties. The boy, gifted in the magical art of Dulum, is taken by his uncle Anyar to learn the magical ways of the ocean from White Ray. However, the sage refuses to teach the boy. Nevertheless, Pari is soon able to communicate with the marine life. He grows into manhood and fights against Black Raven's pirates.
Black Raven, who also a practitioner in the Dulum ocean magical arts, has been trying unsuccessfully to raise the huge cannon from the sea.
The local ruler, Queen Hijau, wants her own large cannon and seeks out Lim Kiam, whom she finds is living in the sea gypsy village. She sends away her sisters, Princess Biru (The Blue Princess) and Princess Ungu (The Purple Princess). They are under the protection of the queen's loyal commander, the fierce silat exponent Lord Yarang.
Yarang comes under attack at the village by Black Raven's. Pari helps fight off the pirates, and Yarang escapes. Princess Ungu was thought to have been killed, but she was rescued by Pari and taken to White Ray's remote island.
A romance develops between Ungu and Pari, but Ungu is intended to marry the Prince of Pahang, an important ally of Langkasuka. Pari himself is still tortured by memories of the death of his childhood sweetheart at the hands of Black Raven's men.
Pari encounters Black Ray, an evil, unstable alter ego of White Ray, and begins to learn more about Dulum and the conflict between the black and white sides of the magic.
Eventually, all the forces - the rebel prince, the pirates, the ocean sorcerers, the queen and the princesses - battle for the sunken cannon. During this battle, Black Raven uses a pair of whales to tow a raft with a heavy cannon into range of the castle walls. Pari - previously presumed to be dead - responds by rising from the ocean, standing on the back of a manta ray. He calls to the whales who slip their bonds and breach, landing on and destroying Black Raven's raft | revenge | train | wikipedia | Thai Aquaman meets Pirates of the Caribbean. I saw the English subtitled version at the Montreal Fantasia festival in a fully-crowded theater. I found it to be surprisingly good and of high quality. "Queens" is a fantasy adventure which tells the story of a small kingdom ruled by a queen with 2 daughters (although they look more like sisters, the movie title is confusing and I don't remember it being clearly explained in the film) who are plagued by pirates and a rebel prince. In the preview, they seemed to be proud announcing it was made for over 20 million US dollars, which might not seem a lot by American standards but probably a huge budget in Thailand. Anyways, the money certainly shows on-screen and the visual effects are overall quite impressive with their computer origins not really showing that much. Despite the title of the film and the importance of the queen and princesses, the main characters are an orphaned boy with the potential for Aquaman-type magical powers and the young bodyguard of the queen. This is not a super-hero movie by any stretch of the imagination despite the Aquaman analogy. The actor who plays the orphan looked the part (when adult) and showed strong dramatic intensity especially in non-speaking parts. He could have looked ludicrous at certain points but he sells the role and nobody ever laughed at him during the screening. The bodyguard was rather stoic and earnest but had the most impressive sword fighting scenes and you root for him because of his nobility. Let's mention also an hermit water magic master White Ray and his rival Black Ray (not to confuse with Black Raven) who were fascinating memorable characters. The queen and daughters were OK, especially the younger fighting one, but they were overshadowed by the men. The evil-doers, most of them pirates, were appropriately menacing and despicable but one can only wish they had a little more characterization beyond their looks. I refer to Pirates of the Caribbean in the title of this review but there are no undead, nor is this film intended to be funny or amusing.The water magic powers (called Du Lum) were very cool, especially the "sonic scream" and I loved the underwater scenes that were very well lit and filmed. The sound effects were a bit exaggerated but they helped make the action and explosions more striking. "Queens" is a serious fantasy adventure but at its core it's also a melodrama rife with romance, revenge, tragedy and betrayal (all the good stuff). The audience I was with laughed at 2 dramatic scenes but otherwise didn't laugh so take of this what you will (I think one time was unwarranted, the other was an actress overacting a bit with a booger hanging from her nose). The ending was appropriately epic and exciting but those boats sure didn't move fast. The audience cheered a few times in the last act and applauded at the end of the screening. I found the story interesting but at a little over 2 hours, some might think it feels long (I didn't). This is apparently the talented director's dream project and his love for it shines through. It could have been a corny artificial-looking b-movie mess, it turned out epic yet artful. Overall, I really enjoyed the film and I would suggest catching it if you can. Rating: 7.5 out of 10. Malaysian Queen and Princesses and soldiers protecting their kingdom from the Black Raven Pirates.. THIS MOVIE IS AWESOMEEE.... THe scenery and feeling is very much like Pirates of the Caribbean, although the characters of the movies are a bit more special.The special effects are not that great but i don't think Hollywood could have made it better anyways. The scenes looked very good, The photography is very much different from other Thai movies. The soundtrack annoyed me abit, well so did other action movies soundtrack. Ananda Everingham was great as always. I absolutely loved it. its really shows what Thais are capable of. This movie has lots of action scenes. Non-stop action. Some of the scenes reminds me of movies like Troy, etc. The romance is really cute. The acting was good. Love it!!!. A bad copy-cat of Pirate of the Caribbean.. Awefully bad film...The plot is all over the places and too naive, childish. The special effects are not good, look so much digitalized and some are really looked like toys. The melodrama of the characters are funny, staged, lacks of depth. Even the name of the pirate is Black Raven makes us think about Black Pearl in the Pirate of the Caribbean...come on, can you come up with a better name than that or you just want the audience to think this is a Thailand version copycat of Pirate of the Caribbean?If i would compare this one with another Asian epic war film like Red Cliff of John Woo, well, this one deserves a generous 2/10. I rented this film in the video club because it was in the Fantasia festival in Montreal last year but i could not attend. I would not, definitely not recommended this film to anyone because i cant find any good thing to say about this film.. If you like bizarre fantasy Thai martial arts set in Indonesia, this is for you. This film is meant to be serious and that is probably a drawback. It is not funny in the Pirates of the Caribbean sort of fantasy way, yet it has similar characteristics and might even be considered a rip off, if Pirates wasn't already a rip off of a cheesy Disney ride. So put all that aside. The story is epic and full of holes, based on a magical type of martial art where you fight with fish. OK, you don't actually fight with fish, but you use fish as part of your power. Got it? This is serious stuff, fighting with fish. Anyway, people breathe underwater, make sonic screams, and hang out a lot with fish. Just saying, if you like bizarre Thai martial arts films, this is certainly one of the more bizarre. Oh yeah, there's one guy with a sword that really kicks some serious ass.If you prefer your bizarre Thai martial arts films to be less fantastical, may I recommend "Chocolate?" |
tt0069994 | The Forgotten | Dr. Stephens (Michael Harvey) presides over a small hospital for the insane; the asylum is a large three-story white house located in an isolated, rural setting. With only himself and a small staff to care for the patients, his approach to psychiatric care is considered very liberal. He allows the patients access to their individual manias, believing that by encouraging them to act out their inner conflicts, they can resolve them.As the film opens, he is working with a patient named Oliver Cameron (Gene Ross), a former judge who is obsessively striking a wooden log with an ax. Nurse Jane St. Claire (Jessie Lee Fulton) is inside the sanitorium packing her suitcase, as if to leave. She has a confrontation with a patient named Harriet (Camilla Carr), a young woman who carries a baby doll and believes it to be real. Harriet accuses Jane of wanting to steal her baby, and threatens to kill her if she does. Jane rushes outside to tell Dr. Stephens that she has decided to leave the sanitarium for good; she can no longer tolerate the madness that runs rampant there. As she is talking to Stephens, the Judge suddenly turns and strikes Stephens with his ax, felling him. Jane shrieks, but suddenly another woman rushes towards them; she is Dr. Geraldine Masters (Annabelle Weenick), and she tells Jane to go inside, she will take care of everything. Inside the hospital, Jane rushes to get her suitcase and leave, but Harriet appears. Her "baby" is in Jane's room, planted there by some unseen person. Furious, Harriet attacks Jane and kills her, strangling her and then slamming her head inside the suitcase.That evening, a new nurse comes to the asylum; young, pretty Charlotte Beale (Rosie Holotik). Dr. Masters seems hostile to her presence, claiming she was unaware that Dr. Stephens had hired her, and she tells her that Dr. Stephens has been killed by the Judge. Masters tells Charlotte that she can't have the job, since she was hired by Dr. Stephens and he is now dead. Charlotte is distraught, not only because the doctor has been killed, but she says she quit an important job at an urban psych hospital to take the job at Stephens Sanitarium. Masters suddenly changes her attitude when Charlotte announces that she will return to her previous employers and tell them about Dr. Stephens' death and ask for her old job back; admitting that the hospital is now understaffed, Masters invites Charlotte to stay for the time being and shows her to her room. Charlotte tries the phone and discovers it is out of order.The next morning, Dr. Masters introduces Charlotte to the rest of the patients and briefs her on their histories; Danny (Jessie Kirby) is a childlike, bizarre young man who plays pranks and giggles maniacally; Sergeant Jaffe (Hugh Feagin) is a disturbed Vietnam vet constantly on the lookout for the 'enemy'; Sam (Bill McGhee) is a large black man with the mind of an eight-year-old child after a botched lobotomy four years ago (that Masters claims she was a part of); Allyson King (Betty Chandler) is a nymphomaniac constantly in search of physical and emotional affection; Jennifer Downey (Harryette Warren) seems mostly catatonic until she randomly explodes with sudden violence. Judge Cameron went crazy due to the stress of his former job, Harriet believes her baby doll is a living baby, and the final patient is a senile old woman named Mrs. Callingham (Rhea MacAdams). When Mrs. Callingham is alone with Charlotte, she tells her that she is in danger and that she must "get out".Sam takes an immediate liking to Charlotte, but he talks about Dr. Stephens in the present tense. Masters tells Charlotte that Sam just has no concept of death, so Charlotte ignores Sam's remarks about his discussions with Dr. Stephens. Strange things continue to happen, however. Masters seems unconcerned about having the phone reconnected. Jennifer attacks Charlotte with a knife, which Masters also tries to brush over. Mrs. Callingham again tries to warn Charlotte about something, but she awakens the next morning with her tongue cut out; Masters tells Charlotte that the old woman did it to herself in a fit.Later that day, someone steals one of the patient files from the office and Masters finds it in Sarge's room; as punishment, she sets the paper on fire and places it in his outstretched palm, burning his hand as punishment. The paper has Masters' name on it.Suddenly an interloper arrives. Ray (Robert Dracup), a telephone repair man, has come to the house to find out why the service isn't operating. Masters tries to send him away, but when he says that he'll have to come back with more help, she relents and lets him examine the phone box, which is inside a closet. While he is in there, Allyson discovers him and comes onto him suddenly, in a bizarre fashion, demanding that he say he loves her. The scene ends suggesting they have sex.The next day, Charlotte takes Danny for a walk around the grounds of the asylum where he tries to make a move on her, but she rebuffs his advances. That evening, Danny attacks Charlotte while she sleeps with a knife, but the Judge stops him and tells him that he needs to restrain himself.When Charlotte discovers several vials of medicine missing from the medicine cabinet, she tells Dr. Masters about the theft. Masters finds them in Jennifer's room and places them back in the medicine cabinet, locking it up. When Jennifer sees her room ransacked and the medicine missing, she goes to Masters' office to try to break into the medicine cabinet to get more, but someone kills her by stabbing her in her left eye with a metal desk implement.A little later, Sam is cleaning up the kitchen area after dinner when he opens a closet door and discovers something. He goes to get Allyson and tells her he has to show her something. Allyson follows him and Sam takes her to find the body of Ray, horribly slashed to death. Allyson becomes hysterical, wailing about how he loved her.Charlotte finds Allyson sobbing in her room where she tells her that Ray was going to take her away from the hospital, but Masters wouldn't allow it; she killed him to keep order in the asylum. Charlotte denies this but Allyson tells her what she has failed to realize (and what we suspected) all along: Masters is simply another patient in the asylum. Allyson tells her that Masters was a former physician who made a fatal error during a procedure and went insane when her dream of becoming a doctor was denied. Dr. Stephens had been allowing her to pretend to be his colleague as part of her therapy. Charlotte is horrified to discover that she is the only sane person in the secluded hospital.The inmates all confirm this with Charlotte, and the Judge suggests that Charlotte herself is insane, acting out her fantasy of becoming a nurse (because Masters told all of them that Charlotte herself is a patient). Charlotte finds that she cannot escape the house; all the doors and windows have been bolted shut. In desperation she enters the dim basement, only to encounter a shadowy figure who grasps at her ankles. In terror, she bludgeons it to death with Sam's toy boat, only to realize that the figure was Dr. Stephens, wounded but still alive in the basement. Charlotte also finds the body of Jennifer."Doctor" Masters confronts Charlotte and makes an attempt on her life. She has Sam (upset over Charlotte killing Dr. Stephens) take Charlotte upstairs to a vacant room where she plots to have Sam kill her. However, Sam has an change-of-heart and restrains Masters from harming Charlotte. Just then, the other inmates (Judge Cameron, Danny, Sarge Jaffe, Allyson, and Harriett) appear and attack Masters, revolting against her desire to keep them all under her command and of her inhuman treatment of them since Dr. Stephens death. Sam helps Charlotte escape through the basement and out the cellar door. While Charlotte flees down the road on foot in the pouring rain, Sam returns to find Masters dead; gorily hacked apart at the hands of the other inmates. In retaliation, he kills each of the inmates with an axe. In the final shot, Sam sits alone, the only survivor of the ordeal, eating a popsicle while covered in the blood of the dead inmates. | cruelty, murder, violence, cult, insanity, sadist | train | imdb | As the latter was also distributed by Hallmark, they obliged to reproduced the same tag line here - `To avoid fainting keep repeating: It's only a movie
only a movie
only a movie'.'Don't Look in the Basement tells the story of Charlotte Beale (heartstoppingly gorgeous Rosie Holotik and Playboy covergirl, April, 1972), a young nurse whose arrival at her new position coincides with a dramatic change within the Stephen's Sanatarium for the mentally insane.
Soon, poor Charlotte realizes that all is not as it should be and '...a sense of unease creeps over her...' Will she solve the mystery of the Sanitarium before she too is driven insane?If you allow yourself to get with the flow of this low budget horror film, then you might even see the twist in the tail.
For me that just ads to the fun of watching this type of stuff.The gore is a bit mild compared to others of this ilk,but there is enough to keep us bloodthirsty sickos (like myself)happy.Some horror films drag in parts and leave you waiting for something to happen.That's not the case here.The characters are entertaining enough to make every frame quite enjoyable.There is never a dull moment from start to finish.The mind melting climax at the end that is just unbelievable.
Take an ensemble cast of good B grade actors, give them a good script, a somewhat original premise, and unobtrusive directing, and you may end up with a film that over-achieves as much as "Don't Look in the Basement" did.The film takes place in a large house which is home to several psychotic individuals.
After a while it becomes very unclear who is a patient and who is a doctor.In the end, Don't Look in the Basement is a cleverly plotted film which benefits from generally good acting and directing and not-overly-ambitious camera work.
Still, the film does have other redeeming features.The acting isn't one of them however; when watching a film like this, one doesn't go in expecting to see great performances, but some of the acting in this movie was so unbelievably below standard that at times even I, a fan of shock horror with bad performances, cringed.
The opening scene is classic; no other horror film starts out better, and the end has its fair share of gore as well).NUDITY: $$$$ (Eager to fall in love Allyson (Betty Chandler) spends a good deal of time naked, attempting to seduce half the men at the sanitarium.
The Forgotten (AKA: Don't Look In The Basement) is a very cheaply made and very old looking horror movie.The story is very slow and never really reaches anything worth getting excited about.The patients at the asylum are embarrassingly funny especially Sam and the old woman who always quotes an old saying to everyone.
(Look out for the bit when she gets close to the camera, tell me you can watch without laughing!).Now the gore is very poor looking, with the blood looking pink in many scenes so it doesn't really deserve its place on the video nasties list!.Overall if you aren't looking for a fantastic horror film and have some time to spare then it's worth a watch..
Don't Look in The Basement has everything that successful horror needs, no stars, no budget, no digital effects, just an original story brought to life in an insane asylum, with a dozen cast members, and a somber, subtle score, and of course, the twist.
It sounded as if it was pulled off of re-runs of `The Prisoner.' And maybe it was just my DVD, but there was an annoying trail coming off of things when they moved that made the movie almost painful to watch.As for the story, like I said, there were some interesting characters but the basic plot seemed to be written by some sort of crazy person that should've been in the film.
Very rarely did it seem to be going in any coherent direction and when the story finally got around to making some sort of sense, it was very predictable.`Don't Look in the Basement' is a painful movie to watch with no real rewards afterwards.
Whilst there, she meets various sorts of different characters including Dr. Geraldine Masters who becomes in charge of the asylum after the the owner of the hospital Dr. Stephens gets killed by one of the patients by hitting him with an axe.My favourite characters in the film are Mrs Challingham(Reah MacAdams), a very funny little old lady, Allison who is a nymphomaniac, and Sam(Bill McGhee) a young black guy who goes around all Day seeming to be in a world of his own all of the time.
It has the grainy quality and bizarre soundtrack that is typical of horror films of the time period but it's the highly underestimated performances of the surprisingly talented actors/actresses that make this movie good.
"Don't Look in the Basement" (how's that for a gimmicky title?) has an attractive young nurse taking a job at a remote insane asylum that is known for its experimental approaches to psychiatric treatment (such as letting the patients simulate their own delusions, no matter how demented or dangerous).
Upon her arrival, she is notified that the head doctor was murdered by one of the inmates, and is geared to run the asylum with the help of the head nurse, but finds herself receiving increasing hostility from the patients.Also known as "The Forgotten," this deceptive and dreary grindhouse flick was apparently a staple of drive-in horror in the mid-1970s, and has been put through the shredder by audiences online.
Add to that a clever narrative twist that may or may not be easy to read between the lines, which may be the film's greatest asset.Overall, "Don't Look in the Basement" is an effective and atmospheric low-budget horror offering that aspires to greater heights than its budget could clearly afford.
What the film is, is a pretty clever little psychological horror film with occasional moments of great wit, that makes the best out of its obviously minimal budget.The young psychiatric Nurse Charlotte Beale (Rosie Holotik) is assigned to work at the Stephens Sanatarium, a small psychiatric facility with only few (but weird) patients.
Charlotte is then introduced to the patients, which include Sam (Bill McGhee), a huge, kind-hearted black man with the mind of an 8-year old, a former sergeant who still thinks he is in the military, an insane judge, a nymphomaniac who desperately craves for love, a woman who holds her plastic doll for a real baby, and a bunch of other troubled characters.
Without giving to much away, the final kill is superbly directed and very effective.In short, this film is as good as it gets for low budget 70's horror, with surprising quality all around..
Don't Look in the Basement fits the film okay while The Forgotten seems to be a more appropriate title.Question why would Dr. Stephen allow a mentally unstable patient to use a real axe in therapy?
As the film goes on we learn each of the character's and why they are inside the asylum, leading to an interesting twist..'Don't look in the Basement' is a pretty dated film for our times, and was shot on clearly a lower budget than most horror films from that era.
A young nurse named Charlotte Beale arrives at a small sanitarium run by Dr Stephens, but soon finds out that not all is as it seems, as the patients aren't locked in their room and the previous Doctor got murdered, so Charlotte tries to investigate the secrets of the place and soon finds out more than she bargained for.In my opinion I find this movie very uneven, firstly as the first hour basically nothing happens just a bunch of overacting and patients screaming, and plus endless boring dialogue, but then the final half hour the movie finally kicks in which is intense and thrilling and the setting is brilliant with it a genuinely eerie feel -- claustrophobic, intense, and a sweaty nightmarish feel.
Otherwise there were some interesting ones, including a strange old woman who spoke in strange riddles, an ex-soldier who thinks he is still fighting a war, an axe-wielding character called The Judge, a Popsicle loving man with the mental age of a child, a woman with severe relationship issues and another who nurses a baby doll.The mystery/thriller/horror side of the story almost takes a back seat a lot of the time.
Then I turn it on and am faced with some of the worst acting I've ever seen, even when I take into account movies like Friday the 13th part 5 (which was probably influenced by this, actually; they're a LOT alike) and Halloween 2 through 5, but I can look past that for a good horror flick, which this tries to be, but really isn't.If this had been made about 10 or 15 years later than it was, it might've been better, with a bigger budget and some better actors.
Indeed, Don't Look in the Basement might appear to be a scary movie, but as it drags on, you realize that it supports itself by relying on the insane side characters, just using them to fill up screen time instead of actually putting in any real scares.
Dr. Stephens (Michael Harvey), head of a seriously understaffed institute for the insane, takes a 'progressive' approach towards the treatment of his patients, even allowing his loonies complete freedom of the building, day and night; he pays the price for his forward thinking, however, when he rather stupidly prescribes chopping wood with an axe as therapy for one of his patients and consequently gets his neck mistaken for a log (serves him right for not suggesting basket weaving).Shortly after this tragic incident, nurse Charlotte Beale (Rosie Holotik) arrives at the hospital to take up position as the doctor's assistant, and discovers that the facility is now being run by the much sterner Dr. Geraldine Masters (Annabelle Weenick).
Despite being unaware of her deceased predecessor's decision to employ Ms Beale, and not particularly eager to take on new staff, Dr. Masters agrees to let the pretty nurse begin work, but following several harrowing experiences at the hospital, Charlotte begins to wonder whether it might have been better if she had been turned away.It doesn't take a genius to figure out what is actually happening at the hospital, the 'lunatics have taken over the asylum' schtick being a premise that should be familiar to most seasoned horror fans, but S.F. Brownrigg's Don't Look In The Basement still proves to be an entertaining piece of drive-in fun thanks to its well defined collection of nutters: lobotomised, popsicle-sucking Sam (Bill McGhee); Judge Oliver W.
Cameron (Gene Ross), who continuously mumbles courtroom phrases; old Mrs. Callingham (Rhea MacAdams), who recites William Allingham's creepy poem The Fairies and warns Charlotte of impending doom; cackling loon Danny (Jessie Kirby), who delights in teasing the other patients; Harriet (Camilla Carr), who thinks her doll is a real baby; army nut Sergeant Jaffee (Hugh Feagin); and best of all, Allyson King (Betty Chandler), whose rejection by a series of men has left her with a craving for love (ie., she tries to jump any man who goes near her).This convincingly crazy set of characters, plus a bit of gore and nudity, reasonable direction from Brownrigg (who also gave us the impressive white trash horror Scum of the Earth), and a solid turn from Playboy covergirl Holotik, all go to turn an otherwise rather predictable, low budget piece of exploitation into a very watchable psycho shocker..
She is upset to learn that the doctor has died,leaving his assistant Doctor Masters in charge.She is unnerved by the inmates including a crazy Judge,a shell-shocked Vietnam vet,a catatonic and a creepy nympho,but is soon befriended by a hulking black man Sam.She needs all the friends she can get as people are dying all around her."Don't Look in the Basement" is my first horror film of S.F Brownrigg.Despite its low-budget it manages to provide some genuine chills plus a nice amount of cheap gore including a particularly nasty scene with a desk-spindle through an eyeball.The climax of inmates taking control over mental asylum is an intense melange of wild camera-work,gore and piercing screams.8 out of 10..
What starts out as a wonderful job opportunity for a pretty, young nurse named Charlotte Beale at the Stephens Sanitarium soon turns nightmarish after she discovers the dangerous mental patients have free run of the asylum.Positives: This has several intense sequences which should prove pleasing to Horror and particularly Gore fans.
It worked for me on the level of a wierd bad dream, not to be taken seriously, but experienced like you experience a movie like "Freaks", or "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (not nearly a classic like those movies, I'm only talking about the disturbing, gripping quality it shares to some degree with those movies)I'm not saying that this is a great, or even really good movie, but if you like clever low budget flicks with strange scenes and characters, "Don't Look in the Basement" is definitely worth checking out..
Every time I watch this movie I am impressed by the complete economy of the film, from the compact, totally self-contained plot with a puzzling beginning and an all too horrible ending, the engaging performances by what was essentially a group of non-professional actors, and a prevading sense of dread and claustrophobia that effectively consumes the narrarive with a certain inevitability which is all the more terrifying because the viewers know what is going on long before the hero[es], with the only question being when are they going to wake up & smell the coffee?Shot on a dental floss budget in Brownrigg's native Texas at an old palatial manor that nicely serves as the setting for a private sanitorium, DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT is another intriguing twist on the good old Edgar Allan Poe tome about inmates taking over the asylum just before an otherwise "normal" outsider unwittingly joins the ranks without realizing until it is far too late that not all is what it seems, they are totally cut off & beyond any outside help, and inevitably find their own sanity questioned as the madness spins out of control -- The Original STAR TREK TV series had a go at this with their WHOM GODS DESTROY episode from 1968, Juan Moctezuma gave the proceedings a peyote fueled Mexican psychedelic trip in DR.
But that's all a part of working in such a radical psychiatric health care environment, Ms. Master's informs her, and she goes about her oddly defined "rounds" that consist of wearing as leg defining a nurse outfit as you can find in a 42nd Street fetish boutique and getting to know the inmates.Allysson is a obsessive compulsive nymphomaniac with homicidal tendancies who likes to take off her shirt & provide the film with some T & A between fits of histrionics; Harriet is a young former mother who let her child die in a stupid accident and now dotes on a beat-up old doll that she is also homicidally protective of; The Seargant is an actual seargeant [and implied Vietnam vet] who's negligence led to the death of his platoon, and now watches from the window with binoculars for the approach of an unseen enemy; Jennifer is a Phish fan who couldn't score a ticket to the New Year's Eve Show and went insane & likes to scarf down nembutols and other barbituates when nobody is looking, and likewise has hidden homicidal tendancies linked to her inability to find a bra; Judge Cameron is apparently a homicidal pervert who became obsessed with his own sense of power and now likes to chop things up with axes; Ms. Callingham is an aged poet who serves as a sort of soothsaying old hag from MACBETH before the cat gets her tongue; and Danny is an insane idiot who was included in the cast as the random element that the plot cannot control, and who's antics serve as the real catalyst for the series of tragedies & murders that ultimately take place in this dark, old, creepy house in the middle of nowhere.The house itself is a wonderful set, with a threadbare early 1970's decor that is remarkable in it's unremarkableness, with a fantastic use of color achieved by subtle ambient lighting.
After a long discussion about the position(which is quite an awkward scene as the two debate about Beale's being sent a letter by Stephens getting a job at the clinic with Masters often reminding her that he is no longer in charge)Masters agrees to let her work in the nursing position, but the good Doctor may not be who she seems..The assortment of loonies includes Sam(Bill McGee)a simple-minded child-man who was Stephens' last victim of lobotomy, Jennifer(Harryette Warren)a woman who needs an adult to comfort her as she wallows at Masters' heel like a puppy, Danny(Jessie Kirby)a trouble-making annoyance often trying to steal the fake baby of disturbed Harriet(Camilla Carr), Allyson(Betty Chandler)a sexy nympho who just wants to be loved and hops at any man she sees, & "Sergeant" Jaffee(Hugh Feagin)your typical case of soldier who hasn't escaped the madness of war.The film shows Masters' unorthodox methods of running the clinic with allowing the patients to roam free with the doors to all rooms without locks calling into question..and, not to mention, the fact that Oliver is still allowed to walk around despite just chopping Dr. Stephens with an axe.
I personally have a soft spot for horror films that are set in hospitals and asylums so I had a good feeling about watching this "Don't Look in the Basement", even though its reputation is doubtful.
One of which, scared me to utter death: Don't Look in the Basement.This was one of those B-movies – EXTREMELY low-budget – films that caused me little sleep. |
tt0096426 | Waxwork | In a small suburban town, a group of college students "Mark, China, Gemma, James, Tony, and Sarah" visit a mysterious wax museum, where they encounter several morbid displays, all of which contain stock characters from the horror genre. Tony and China enter two separate waxwork displays. Tony is at a cabin where a werewolf attacks him. A hunter and his son come, suppressing their fear. The son fails and is torn in two, while the hunter shoots the werewolf, and Tony as he begins the transform. China is sent to a Gothic castle, where vampires attack her and Count Dracula turns her into a vampire. Two of the other students, Mark and Sarah, leave the waxwork unscathed, later Johnathan "a college jock" comes in to the Wax Museum looking for China, but the Phamton of The Opera display got his attention as David Lincoln walked him into the display, Mark goes to a pair of investigating police detectives, Inspecter Roberts meets Lincoln as he lets Roberts investigate the Waxworks, as Mark and Roberts leave the Museum, Mark reconized Lincoln.later, Roberts realized some of the displays looked like some of the other missing people, and then comes back to the Wax Museum, as he cuts off a piece of China's face and puts it in a bag, then he walks into the mummy display as the mummy throws him in the tomb to be killed by a snake, later, Roberts' partner sneaks in and gets his neck broken by Junior "a tall butler" Lincoln scolds him for killing the partner.Mark takes Sarah to the attic of his house, where he shows her an old newspaper detailing the murder of his grandfather (which was seen in the prologue); the only suspect was David Lincoln, his chief assistant, whose photograph closely resembles the waxwork owner. The two then consult the wheelchair-bound Sir Wilfred, a friend of Mark's grandfather, who explains how he and Mark's grandfather collected trinkets from "eighteen of the most evil people who ever lived" and that Lincoln stole the artifacts; Lincoln, having sold his soul to the devil, wants to bring their previous owners to life by creating some wax effigies and feeding them the souls of victims, a concept taken from voodoo. Providing all eighteen with a victim would bring about the "voodoo end of the world, when the dead shall rise, and consume all things".On the advice of Sir Wilfred, Mark and Sarah enter the waxwork at night and douse the museum with gasoline. However, Sarah is lured into the display of the Marquis de Sade, and Mark is pushed into a zombie display by the waxwork's two butlers. Mark is approached by a horde of zombies, but finds that if he does not believe in the monsters, then they do not exist and cannot harm him. Mark finds his way out of the display and into the Marquis de Sade exhibit, where he rescues Sarah, while the Marquis vows revenge.Despite Mark and Sarah's attempts to escape, Junior and Lincoln grab Mark and Sarah pull them out of sight as Gemma and James returned, Gemma gets lured into the Marquis de Sade display and James attempts to steal something from the Zombie display, as the bodies of James and Gemma reappear as wax figures, the displays are completed with the figures and their victims reanimating as evil entities. Suddenly, Sir Wilfred and a huge group of armed men "along with Mark's butler Jenkins" arrive and in the ensuing battle, several waxworks and slayers die, including Lincoln's butlers and Mark and Sarah's former friends, now evil. Mark duels with the Marquis de Sade, who is finally killed by an axe, wielded by Sarah.The reunited couple is confronted by Lincoln, who dies getting shot by Sir Wilfred and falls in a vat of boiling wax. Sir Wilfred is killed by a werewolf as Sarah and Mark manage to escape the burning waxwork with their lives and begin to walk home, not noticing that the hand from the Zombie display is scuttling away from the rubble. | good versus evil, cult, satire, murder, violence | train | imdb | null |
tt0038519 | The Falcon's Alibi | Suave sleuth Tom Lawrence AKA The Falcon (Tom Conway) is enjoying a day at the racetrack but is equally enjoying the sight of attractive fellow race-goer Joan Meredith (Rita Corday). Meredith is the beleaguered personal secretary of her wealthy employer Mrs Gloria Peabody (Esther Howard). When Joan discovers the identity of her admirer she implores Tom to accept Mrs Peabody's invitation to a birthday party. Tom attends the swanky party at the Barbary Towers hotel where Joan explains that ever since Mrs Peabody made an insurance claim on a stolen necklace she has been trailed by an over-zealous insurance investigator called Metcalf (Emory Parnell). Joan also admits that in order to protect her employer she secretly took Mrs Peabody's famous $100,000 pearl necklace to a jeweller to have a copy made - but was stunned to be told by the jewellers that the necklace was fake. Tom agrees to help Joan find the real necklace but moments later the head waiter at the party Louie (Alphonse Martell) is killed in Mrs Peabody's suite. Joan and Tom stumble upon the body, and when the police arrive Inspector Blake (Al Bridge) discovers that the Peabody pearls have been stolen. Later, in his hotel room Tom is receiving a massage from his sidekick "Goldie" Locke (Vince Barnett) when someone takes a pot-shot at them. As Tom is digging the bullet out of the wall, we see Nick (Elisha Cook Jr.), a disc jockey operating out of the hotel, sneak back into his studio where we can hear his supposedly live broadcast is in fact a pre-recorded one.The following day Tom notices ambitious hotel nightclub singer Lola Campbell (Jane Greer) wearing an expensive ring and is surprised when she states that it is a phony. Tom sends Goldie to light a fire in a trashcan inside the hotel room of Harvey Beaumont (Jason Robarts Snr.), a friend of Mrs Peabody, and to then hide inside a closet to observe Beaumont's actions. Goldie reports back to The Falcon that Beaumont has hidden the Peabody pearls inside a fake book. Tom sneaks in and recovers the necklace, then visits Bender (Morgan Wallace), a fence and nightclub owner, to see about disposing of the pearls. However, Bender sends his men to follow Tom to try and steal the pearls from him - forcing The Falcon to mail the necklace back to his hotel room. Tom and Goldie return to their hotel room only to find Inspector Blake there, who promptly arrests them after finding both the missing pearl necklace and the corpse of Beaumont in their room. The Falcon eventually manages to persuade Blake to give him 24 hours to solve the case.Tom goes to Lola's dressing room and discovers that Lola and Nick are secretly married, but that Lola is having an affair with her manager Alex Olmstead (Paul Brooks). Before Lola can tell Nick that she is leaving him for Alex, Nick reveals to her that he has been stealing jewels for her and that he is now in serious trouble. A distraught Nick begs Lola to leave with him that night, but suddenly fearing for her safety, Lola manages to persuade Nick that she will go with him but in a few days time. Tom investigates Nick's studio and uncovers his secret trick of broadcasting pre-recorded programmes as live broadcasts in order to give himself an alibi. Nick eventually overhears Lola and Alex discussing their affair in Lola's room. He waits until Alex has left the room before confronting Lola and in a jealous rage shooting her and then sneaks out of the window. Tom comes to investigate the gunshot, finds Lola's body and is immediately cornered by the cops. Joan goes to Nick's studio in search of Tom and she too uncovers Nick's alibi providing deception. Nick bursts in but just as he is about to shoot her The Falcon bursts in and a fight ensues during which Nick plunges backwards out of the open window he had entered the studio through plummeting to his death. Tom and Joan are cleared by Blake of all crimes as it is revealed that Peabody and Beaumont were in league to defraud the insurance company Metcalf is working for. | murder | train | imdb | null |
tt1235124 | Dorian Gray | When a naïve young Dorian Gray arrives in late Victorian London, by train, to inherit an estate left to him by his abusive grandfather, he is swept into a social whirlwind by the charismatic Lord Henry Wotton, who introduces Gray to the hedonistic pleasures of the city. Lord Henry's friend, society artist Basil Hallward, paints a portrait of Gray to capture the full power of his youthful beauty. When the portrait is unveiled, Gray makes a flippant pledge: he would give anything to stay as he is in the picture—even his soul.
Gray meets and falls in love with budding young actress, Sibyl Vane. After a few weeks, he proposes marriage to her. Lord Henry tells Gray that having children is "the beginning of the end", and after the two men visit a brothel, Gray leaves Sibyl. Heartbroken, the young woman drowns herself. Gray learns of her death the following day from her brother, James ("Jim"), who also reveals that Sybil was pregnant with Gray's child. Enraged, Jim tries to kill Gray before being restrained and carried off by the authorities. Gray's initial grief soon disappears as Lord Henry persuades him that all events are mere experiences and without consequence. His hedonistic lifestyle worsens, distancing him from a concerned Hallward.
Gray returns home one evening to find that Hallward's portrait of him has become warped and twisted, and he soon realises that his off-hand pledge has come true; while the portrait ages, its owner's sins manifest as physical defects on the canvas. Before long, the curse imbued within Gray's portrait begins in earnest, resulting in Hallward's brutal murder after the artist reveals his secret. Gray dismembers and dumps Hallward's body in the River Thames, although the remains are soon recovered and buried.
Gray then leaves London to travel for many years, inviting Lord Henry to come with him although Lord Henry declines because of his wife's pregnancy. Gray returns to London and during the welcome back party the guests are surprised to see that he has not aged at all during his 18-year absence. He becomes close to Lord Henry's daughter, Emily, a member of the UK suffragette movement, despite Lord Henry's distaste for such a relationship because of Gray's lifestyle and unnatural appearance, Emily having provided Lord Henry with a greater moral focus and having changed him for the better.
Although Gray appears genuinely interested in changing his ways as he spends time with Emily, matters are complicated when he is confronted by Jim, still seeking revenge for his sister's death. Despite Gray's attempts to pretend to be someone else by pointing out his apparent age, Jim nevertheless deduces Gray's true identity, only to be killed by a train while pursuing Gray in the London Underground. As Gray makes arrangements to leave London with Emily, Lord Henry's study of old photographs makes him remember the time when he teased Gray to deal with the devil for eternal youth and beauty at the cost of his soul.
Breaking into Gray's house as Gray and Emily are making plans to leave together, Lord Henry discovers the concealed portrait, but is interrupted by Gray before he can uncover it. Although Gray attempts to convince Lord Henry that he still cherishes his friendship and genuinely loves his daughter, Lord Henry discovers the stained scarf of Basil in a box, prompting Gray to declare angrily that he is what Lord Henry has made him, the personification of the life Lord Henry preached but never dared practise. Full of anger and grief, Gray attempts to strangle Lord Henry but is distracted by Emily's call long enough for Lord Henry to knock him aside and expose the portrait.
Disgusted and horrified at the twisted sight on the canvas, Lord Henry throws a lit lamp at the portrait, causing it to catch fire, and then locks the gate of the attic to ensure that Gray and the painting are destroyed. Emily pleads with her father for the key. After seeing her and realising that he really loves her, he turns his back. As Lord Henry drags his daughter out of the house, Gray's last words are to assure Emily that she has his whole heart. Resolving to end it all, Gray stabs the painting with a poker, causing his body to age the years that it has never suffered, Gray charging at the portrait to impale it as his years catch up to him before the attic is consumed by an explosion.
A few months later, scarred from the explosion and after a futile attempt to reconcile with Emily over the phone, Lord Henry heads to his attic where he keeps the now-youthful portrait of Gray, grimly noting that nobody will look at it now. As Lord Henry leaves, the portrait's eyes glow, suggesting that Gray's soul may still be within the portrait even after his death. | gothic, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0070544 | La planète sauvage | The film depicts a future in which human beings, known as "Oms" (a word play on the French-language word hommes, meaning men), have been brought by the giant Draags to the Draags' home planet, where they are kept as pets (with collars). The Draags are an alien race which is humanoid in shape but a hundred times larger than humans, with blue skin, fan-like earlobes and huge, protruding red eyes. The Draags also live much longer than human beings one Draag week equals a human year. Some Oms are domesticated as pets, but others run wild, and are periodically exterminated. The Draags' treatment of the Oms is ironically contrasted with their high level of technological and spiritual development.The story opens with a woman running, occasionally looking behind her as if pursued. An enormous hand descends and blocks her way. She runs back the way she came and finds her way blocked by another hand. It becomes apparent that she is being toyed with by entities that do not appreciate her fragility, and as she dies, the infant she has been carrying and attempting to protect begins to cry.The view changes to reveal the Draag children who have accidentally killed the woman; they leave quickly when an adult Draag and child approach. The child voices concern for the orphaned infant, and the two take the child to their home. Tiva (the Draag child) names the infant Terr (word play on "terrible", same spelling in French; also a homophone for the French "Terre", meaning Earth). Her father, whom the adult Terr voice-over explains is master Sinh, the Draag great Aedile, attaches a collar capable of physically dragging Terr back from mischief, and over the next several scenes, their relationships develop.Terr witnesses the parents seemingly ingesting food by inhaling it from a device. After changing Terr's costume as one would a doll's, Tiva uses makeup to give herself a more Om-like appearance. When Terr impishly trades dark pigment for light, Tiva blows some of the powder on him. Tiva uses a tiny indoor weather-maker to cause a small storm cloud to form over Terr and chase him around the dwelling. Tiva takes Terr for a walk, and then teaches him how, under certain circumstances, crystals will form on stationary objects, including standing bipeds. She also teaches him that whistling will shatter the crystals. Terr happens upon master Sinh as he and several compatriots are melding in a ritual, and it is revealed that many Draag children have Oms like Terr when they convene to watch their respective Oms interact.Tiva's education is supplied by the use of a headset that transmits knowledge directly into the brain of the user. Because she enjoys having Terr in her hand when she is having her "infos," Terr begins to acquire their knowledge.Meanwhile, at the seat of government, Draag Councilors discuss whether the regular extermination of the wild Oms is sufficient to keep their numbers at an acceptable level. It is revealed that Oms were first found on a planet that retained some evidence of structured life, but the images seem to reveal that Earth was in a post-apocalyptic state at the time.Terr decides to escape, and to take the headset with him. He does not get very far before Tiva realizes he is missing, and her mother tells her to use her bracelet to bring him back. Terr finds himself suddenly being dragged backward by the collar. Only the headset becoming entangled in plants allows a wild female Om to come to his rescue before he is choked by the collar or dragged all the way back.When Terr explains that the headset contains the knowledge of the Draags but he doesn't know where to go with it, his unnamed rescuer takes him to her tribe, who live in a tree in a walled park. When it is demonstrated that Terr can read Draag script, the leader (known only as "Mighty One") is willing to accept Terr into the tribe, but the Wizard is not, and demands a trial by combat to the death. Terr and the Wizard's champion have child-sized animals bound to their torsos in such a way as to prevent the combatants from using anything but the beaks of said animals to attack. Terr is injured, but wins the trial.Over the next several scenes, it is shown how the Oms have adapted to life on the Draags' planet. Snail-like animals weave clothes onto the Oms, predators that would eat Oms are in turn hunted and efficiently stripped of useful materials, and the gene pool is kept well-mixed. Oms even make the occasional foray into Draag areas in search of resources. Returning from one such expedition, the group of adventurers is accosted by "bandits" who drop clawlike harpoons into the cargo and simply lift it up into their own tree. Mighty One tells Terr that they live on the other side of the park, and cautions him that they are evil.When the now-literate Oms read the new sign on one of the walls, they realize the park is about to be "de-Omised." Terr decides that he must take this information to the tribe of "bandits," and is quickly captured and taken before their leader, a wizened old woman.The woman is skeptical of Terr's claims. Terr is tied up and left. But when the de-Omising begins, the old woman returns and frees him. The de-Omising is accomplished using disks that release a poison gas. A great many Oms perish to this gas, but a sizable number still manage to escape through a crack in the park wall.Two passing Draags witness the exodus, and one begins crushing the Oms underfoot. The Oms retaliate and manage to bring down one of their attackers, but Mighty One is also killed, and the old woman leads the survivors to a place where she believes they will be safe. The death of a Draag puts the Council in an uproar. De-Omising is stepped up to a much higher priority, new technologies are developed, and frequency is scheduled to increase.The old woman has led the two now-united tribes to an old rocket depot. Applying their newfound knowledge, the Oms, seemingly under Terr's direction, very quickly adapt the abandoned technologies to their own purposes and begin to flourish, thanks to the rebirth of mechanized industry. On a visit to the old woman, Terr's former rescuer hears her express both optimism and regret that she will not live to see the Oms finally find peace.Fatalities resulting from Draag attempts to de-Om the rocket depot are minimized by the creation and organized use of shelters, but the Draags' updated de-Omising technologies become ever more aggressive, and when an automated scout detects the persistent Om settlement, it summons an array of lethal devices.As the attacks become more diverse and effective, the Oms launch their manned rockets toward the Fantastic Planet, where they discover headless statues. As bubbles descend to alight atop the statues, the statues begin to dance. Each bubble seems to contain an image of an individual Draag in meditation; their "spirits" are what animate the statues.It turns out that the statues facilitate "nuptial rites" between the Draags and entities from other galaxies, and from these, the Draags draw their life force. When the feet of the dancing statues threaten the rockets, the Oms use energy weapons that shatter the statues. Pandemonium reigns supreme in the Council chamber, for it seems the two races will destroy one another if they cannot find a way to live together.But in the very next scene, an Om steps down off an outstretched Draag hand, removes his silly hat and assumes a posture of confidence and self-assertion. The headset voice dispassionately recounts the Oms' construction of a new satellite where they can live, "which they call Terr, after their ancestral planet ." | cult, avant garde, psychedelic, atmospheric, satire | train | imdb | Although I appreciate animations like Finding Nemo or the Incredibles for they represent a renewal of the genre (in the same way the Disney movie did in the 50's), the artistic style of La Planete Sauvage is unmistakable and accords perfectly with the dark atmosphere of the movie.
They become tired of the treatment they suffer at the hands of the alien race, and seek to exact revenge on their captors.This movie was made nearly 30 years ago, so the animation is not really comparable to modern-day animation, but the story and the plot transcend time.
The premise of the film is as valid today as it was in the 70s.The DVD edition of the movie comes with three additional animated shorts by Rene Laloux, and they are just as entertaining.
Mix Dali surreal landscapes, Bosch architecture and fauna/flora creatures, add a hint of 19th century botanical drawings, slowly pour some Pink Floyd-ish music, and whisk all energetically with a fat-free faux-mythological metaphorical story, and you have The Savage Planet, which is the original title of the movie in French.The story is very interesting and has many possible interpretations and readings: the role of humans in Nature, cohabitation and coexistence of different species and political systems, what makes different species superior and savage, among others.
Its about a planet called Ygam, where human-like creatures called Oms live as pets for a race of blue giants known as the Traags.
First, the mise-en-scene is quite imaginative with absolutely surreal environments that I think owe a lot to the imagery of Monty Python; nothing wrong in copying – everybody does it, anyway.Second, it's a fairly simple story about the oppression and exploitation of the masses in a fantastic society somewhere in the cosmos.
Cameron, of course, reversed the oppressed-oppressor roles of humanity and the blue giants for his story.Moreover, here's a way-out thought: being a French production and seeing as how the French just love Hollywood westerns, I was amused to see the 'outlaw' Oms run for cover to a tiny hole in a wall – a long, blank, gigantic solid wall – much like how the real Butch Cassidy and his outlaws retreated to what was known as The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang hideout in the late nineteenth century.
I am a huge fan of animated movies and I love Fantastic Planet.
But like any good allegory, it works as a statement on any struggle to topple a giant.The art and animation are superb, filled with more detail and imagination than any ten standard animated films (the works of Miyazaki excluded).It isn't perfect, of course.
The concepts hold true even now, in 2014!I have to say that I have been thinking of writing a story about humans treated as pets by an alien culture, but after I've seen this I couldn't possibly do it, as it is perfect as storyline and concepts.
So, in my mind, to add valid philosophical and moral points to an already brilliant story with fantastic drawings is like covering the icing of the cake with a ton of cherries!About the animation style.
It succeeds because of a constant, virtuoso tension between concept and execution, and as such, the beauty of the film is its refusal to give in to your expectations.Fantastic Planet sees mankind acting as either mere pets or vermin to a colossal race of blue humanoids.
Add to that a dreamy score by Alain Goraguer and you end up with a film that, when it's unnerving you, is just balls-to-the-wall trippy.Over 40 years on, it is still refreshing to behold a film that sits at the polar opposite of the lushness of a Miyazaki or Disney, one that possibly jump-started the era of animation as a medium of ideas that would later give us the likes of Ghost in the Shell and Jin Roh. An enduring masterpiece, well worth the watch!.
Yes, to throw a word as big and all-encompassing like that is tricky, Fantastic Planet qualifies as some kind of weird artistic feat of surrealism and pure science fiction.
It's like a strange revelation that won't leave your mind.And yes, leave no mistake, it also works very well as a "stoner movie", one of those ridiculously warped visions that goes into the world of the imagination so heavily, with tangential moments in scenes (the 'blending' of the Draags in one scene, the constant flow of various monsters, the 'mating' ritual, the de-Oming), with a soundtrack that's like a outstanding, unlikely collaboration between Isaac Hayes and Pink Floyd (you don't know whether it'll split into Dark Side or Shaft).
The director Rene Laloux, along with collaborators like Roland Topor, creates a world unequivocally unto itself, where there are real strokes with pencils and colors and inks, where it seems very much like a collection of pictures from some obscure European fable book for kids, only loaded with some kind of life-force that moves like no other animated film (maybe it's slightest, closest-distant relative is Yellow Submarine, which is still a stretch).
Characters move in and out occasionally like a Terry Gilliam short- giant hand and other objects placed in almost jokingly, which makes it a lot of fun at times- and there's something eerie in Laloux's dedication to pushing the expectation-level, mainly because, as noted, we haven't seen this style before.
I remember the first time i saw"Fantastic Planet".It was December of 1986 on the USA Network.It was part of a saturday night kids show double feature with"Yellow Submarine".Needless to say i was very young at that time,i thought it was weird and fun at the same time.I did'nt see it again until 10 years later in 1996 i rented it and loved every minute of it.I still see it once and a while on midnight cult TV showings on KQED or KOFY.I wish HBO showed it at least 2 or 3 times a month.The film is kind of an animated "Planet Of The Apes",it follows a little part of the same plot idea.Aliens dominating humans in the future works very well in some cases and this is one of them.Barry Bostwick narrates this film,ironically since it's a french film.All in all,"Fantastic Planet"is classic cult animated film that should be shown on TV alot.I give it a 8 of 10..
i remember seeing this movie for the first time in the mid 80s, on USA network's late-night show called 'night flights' (the predecessor to USA's up all night), where they would show new-wave music videos and juxtapose them with cult movies like the fantastic planet or ringo star's cave man.
This animated film is a feast of imagination, filled with bizarre images and creatures....but, like most mainly visual films, it cannot sustain your complete attention, even for only 70 minutes.
Most other science fiction films, animated or otherwise, stop so far below Fantastic Planet.
Since I love mystical animation my intrigue led me to watch this full length feature.Cool animation cannot save this story due to an incoherent plot with inexplicable characters, creepy-cool creatures and surreal imagery.
I had no memory of a story, or of people, or of dialogue; just strange creatures.Having just watched it again, I see there's this whole story with giants and transported earthlings, and a tale of struggle, but I probably will forget all that again, because it's so less memorable than the incredibly strange and imaginative details of a very unique world.As for the story, well, it's pretty interesting.
As a human, one's sympathy is natural with the humans, but I wouldn't say the giants were evil; to them, humans are pretty much like rodents are to us, and while they think the humans might be intelligent, or at least their ancestors were, they aren't sure.The more allegorical elements feel a little flat, and the English dub suffers from weak acting, and if you're used to Pixar and Disney, the very simple animation can sometimes seem a little underwhelming, but the imagination is so strong that no fan of animation should miss this..
Fantastic Planet is a French-Czechoslovakian animated science fiction film.
Personally, I highly recommend this movie to anybody who loves surrealist art, animation, or or who simply wants to see a much more different animated film than most that come out..
What I had only perceived at first as a very conventional tale of struggle between races for independence and power is also the start of more thoughts about other layers of interpretation, some maybe only in my imagination but still interesting to pursue in their own right, which is a lot more than your average Hollywood sci-fi big budget production can provoke.The extermination scenes with the big ball squashing humans like ants were very distressing for me as they echoed other, very ugly and real scenes from WWII I had seen before.
We must sometimes stop reasoning only in terms of function and enjoy what makes us human, not just efficient commercial-minded robots ("the focus group indicates maximum joy at this scene!" eeech.)This story is based on a french sci-fi novel called "Oms en série" by Stefan Wul. The music is good, typical of it's time and adds to the overall sense of watching something slightly odd from the 1970s.
However the world depicted is great in originality and beats Alice in wonderland.It is a growing up story of an 'om' who becomes a great man, in a world where they are oppressed and become free (btw, om in French sounds like homme which means man or human).This cartoon has everything that makes Sci-Fi great and that is often missing in Hollywood blockbuster Sci-Fi movies: - Great imagination - Strong multi-level social message (i.e. not simplistic) - Lessons to learn - A great personal adventure of an ordinary anti-herothat turns great - An outworldly experience - An original story - Fairy tale like storytelling quality - No simplistic 'good vs evil' judgemental messagethat leads to unreasonable hatred and feuding - A message to step back and take time to understand a situationand understand the others.This cartoon is a reference in the genre..
I don't know that I've ever seen a science fiction film set on a world which feels so completely alien.
There was never a point while I was watching Fantastic Planet where I felt, "Yeah, I think I've got the gist of it now." Laloux seems to take great pleasure in filling every frame of this film with some new strange creation.
Masters Of Cinema Cast - Episode 5 - Rene Laloux's Fantastic PlanetIts not often you can say 'I have never seen anything like that before' come the end of a given film.
Laloux didn't have 3D or CGI at his disposal in 1971; just some extremely talent cartoon artists a seriously funky score and some extremely crazy ideas and still manages to leave jaws on the floor.It maybe easy to dismiss Fantastic Planet as some post Hippy movement nonsense complete with psychedelic imagery barely concealable political allegories and although it maybe very much a product of its time it remains a compelling and indeed visionary oddity.In this episode we dig into why this film maybe of interest and try not to lose ourselves down the rabbit hole by thinking too much about it....http://moccast.blogspot.no/2013/05/episode-five-fantastic-planet.html.
The script, too, is masterful, investigating the plight of human beings (called Oms) as pets in a world dominated by giants of superior intellect called the Traag, who live artistic and meditative lives on a planet populated by unusually beautiful and dangerous flora and fauna.
It's also a low- budget animated film, so don't expect even Hannah-Barbara level production values.However, if you're interested in some trippy, hippy spins on weirdo-70s alien lifeforms - sweater barfing tribbles, giant anteater bats, seasons that are marked by crystals growing on your body, etc., then check it out.
There has been a plethora of adult animated movies in the 1970's, RalphBakshi et al, and many of them have become perennial cult classics.Rene Laloux is the French director of 1973's French/Czechoslovakian masterpiece "Fantastic Planet" and Roland Topor is the animator.
The plot is simplistic and predictable, but the level of artistic and scientific imagination in the construction of a truly alien world puts this film up there with the best of science fiction.
A tour de force of exobiology, one could only imagine what modern filmmakers could do by porting _Fantastic Planet's_ ideas into a live-action film with digital imagery.The laserdisc has both French and English dialogue tracks (and it's subtitled) but the score and monaural soundtrack leave much to be desired, and I find this film is best enjoyed by watching with the sound turned off..
I originally watched this film because it was a strange looking animated film that attracted my attention in a weird sort of way.
Maybe I just haven't seen enough movies, but the whole feel and art style of the film was quite unique to me.
The story (based on the novel The Savage Planet by Stefan Wul) is wonderful, the animation and directing is excellent, the music is hauntingly strange!
I remember watching this on TV as a kid and I was mezmerized by the story of these people being controlled by these giant aliens and having a strange feeling like this has happened in the past before..and I couldn't stop watching.
A film where humans are merely pets and insects to a more advanced, giant race of alien beings.
Nowadays, the film is regarded as a cult classic by film and animation aficionados alike, and while I don't regard it as a great film, I do admire it nonetheless.The film centers around the planet Ygam where humans, referred to as Oms, are an inferior species to the large blue android like Draags.
The character animation is pretty limited, but the unique visual style really helps the film stick out from any other, so it fits well enough in this environment.
I know this film is meant to focus more on the allegories of racism and the trippy visuals, but a little more character development would be nice.Nevertheless, Fantastic Planet is a very distinct and worthwhile experience that you only see once in a blue moon.
Sure, the characters aren't all that interesting and the plot can get a little slow sometimes, but the way the film tells its story of prejudice through bizarre animation and psychedelic ideologies makes the film quite a unique feature that is worthy of its cult status.
Fantastic Planet is an animated science fiction not for casual audiences nor for anyone looking to kill some time.
From its cut-out, paper-doll animation; to its ugly and nonsensical story of survival and revenge; to its "far-from-likable" characters - Fantastic Planet certainly could've been a helluva lot better than it inevitably was.Even though the decidedly diminutive humans (aka.
The animation, for the time, I understand had to be restrained because of lack of resources, but even so the story seems like some kind of hackneyed parable on sexual repression.I'm just curious what went through the director's mind to produce this film in the first place, and why it's given such high praise.
Fantastic Planet is famed French animator René Laloux's most famous film.
Fantastic Planet is a work of pure sci-fi creativity and one of the most distinctive animation films ever..
The story, about humans living on a strange planet dominated by giant humanoid aliens who consider them animals, is based on the 1957 novel "Oms en série" by French writer Stefan Wul.I love that Corman got involved, because he really was a champion of film.
This is a beautifully animated film with a great ending that will leave you wanting to watch it again.
"Fantastic Planet" is one of the stranger sci-fi films I have ever seen.
I'm utterly surprised at this movie's high rating because I could hardly make head nor tail of it and felt like I was watching an animated sci-fi version of The Emperor's New Clothes .
In the case of the latter, and specifically "Fantastic Planet", it's not a lot.Done with Monty Python-esque animation, the movie attempts to tell some sort of story.
This is a surrealist French animation from the 70s, and that's pretty much the sum-up of its description: Surreal, 70s, and French."Fantastic Planet" is a science fiction film about a world inhabited by Traags (large blue alien species) and Oms (human creatures that are regarded as pests and pets by the colossal Traags), along with other interesting and bizarre creatures like something out of Dr. Seuss.
The tiny human-like Oms are treated as pets and totally at the mercy of intellectual blue giants the Draags.
This movie is original and visually unique, creating a fascinating world like nothing that you have seen before.
This is an animated film made 45 years ago (1973) by the French, has the English title of "Fantastic Planet." Early on, it reminded me of the "Planet of the Apes" story in which "human" were the captives and someone else (aliens, here, called "Draags") were the "masters." He, we are the "humanoids," the visitors, so to speak on a foreign planet.In this story, the aliens are huge and appear not to be hostile.
Having heard about this movie for a long time, I didn't really know what to think about this film.
As for the movie itself?As the name implies, the story's setting is on the fantastic planet (sorry) Ygam, with the Renaissance-style-human depicted Oms and the enormous Draags sharing it.
It was a double feature with An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.(Also a beautiful film.) I have re-watched it many times since and I am always struck with how simple, yet complex both the artwork and the story are.On the planet Ygam huge blue Draags keep humans called Oms as pets.
I was very surprised by how much this film takes you into this surreal and stunningly visual world, complete with some assisting music and impressive sound effects creation, it is a fantastic French/Czech animated science-fiction fantasy. |
tt0963794 | The Ruins | Four friends sit by the pool at a Cancún resort. Amy (Jena Malone) and Stacey (Laura Ramsey), two best friends, are on vacation with their boyfriends Jeff (Jonathan Tucker) and Eric (Shawn Ashmore). When Amy realizes that she has lost an earring, a boy Mathias (Joe Anderson) finds it at the bottom of the pool and returns it to her. Grateful, they invite him to share a drink with them, and Hans ends up inviting them to join him and his friend Dimitri (Dimitri Baveas) on a visit to an ancient ruin that his brother and wife are excavating.When the cousins working the dig don't show up the next morning to pick them up, the six have difficulty finding a taxi to take them to the ruins, and end up paying a local truck driver (Patricio Almeida Rodríguez) to take them there. At the edge of the jungle, they find the brother's truck abandoned on a dirt road. Matheas looks confused, but they decide to go ahead and look for the ruins themselves. They wander through the jungle, until they finally come across a clearing, and a high ancient ruin stands before them. While they all stand raptured at this hidden secret, the sound of horses and shouting men suddenly comes from behind them.The six vacationers turn around in surprise, and repeatedly try to find out what they clearly have done wrong. Men emerge from the jungle with bows and arrows, and an older man (Sergio Calderón) in the middle holds a silver revolver, staring them down. Amy stands in the back with her camera, and is instinctively taking pictures with her camera, not realizing how much danger they are in. The men instantly turn violent, and when Dimitri tries to hand over the camera in a sign of apology, he is shot in the chest with an arrow, and then shot in the face. Astounded, the friends retreat back from the men, up the ruins. Strangely enough, the men do not follow them, but do not leave the clearing.At the top of the summit, Matheas scrambles around looking for his cousins in the tents that they discovered. The others check their phones, but can't get a signal. Matheas finds the tents unpacked, but there is no sign of his cousin. Coming from the bottom of a deep shaft in the middle of the summit, they hear a cell phone ringing faintly. Desperate for a phone, Matheas loops a rope around him, and the other boys lower him slowly down the shaft by an overhead crank. It is slow going, until suddenly the rope snaps and Matheas plunges to the bottom.While the boys repair the rope, Stacey volunteers to go down the shaft after Matheas and the phone. They lower her slowly down the line, but it isn't quite long enough to take her all of the way. Stacey unhooks herself from the rope to drop to the dirt floor, but lands on a lantern with her knee. Having to pull out a shard of glass from her knee, Stacey winces and hobbles towards Matheas. He says that he is scared, and can't feel his legs. It's clear that his back is broken, so the remainder on the surface fashion a back-board to load him up on. Now it is Amy's turn to be lowered into the shaft; at the bottom, she and Stacey struggle to hoist Matheas on the backboard. All are lifted to the surface, and they survey the damage. While Jeff, a pre-med student, inspects Matheas' wounds, they all argue about what to do about their situation.Amy, at her wit's end, storms down the steps of the ruins to confront their captors. When she reaches the bottom and yells at them to help, they shout back in a language that she doesn't understand. Jeff runs to drag her away from the men, and out of frustration and anger, Amy rips a large chunk of some of the vines that cover the ruins and throws it at the menacing men. It hits a small boy and harmlessly falls to his feet, but the captors quickly turn their attention to the little boy, and shout at him, gesturing towards the ruins. The boy cries in protest, and after refusing to move, he is shot with bows and arrows down to the ground, while his mother looks on.Jeff and Amy run back to the summit, and report back what they saw to Stacey and Eric. They are all completely confused, and decide to go to sleep in the tent to wait for someone to come find them. In the morning, Stacey wakes up screaming. She looks down at her leg, and one of the vines from the ruins is clearly growing into the large cut she had on her knee. Screaming to have it taken out, Chris quickly goes to pull out the vine - and removes about a foot of greenage from her leg. They call for Jeff to take a look, while Amy stands by Matheas to check on him. Sweating and looking gray, Matheas asks Amy to pull the blanket from off of his body - he senses something is wrong with his legs. She obliges and screams as well, when they see that a massive amount of vines has sprouted overnight all over his lower half. They try to remove it the best they can, but he is severely injured and has cuts all over his skin. Amy knows what is going on now; they are being quarantined from whatever evil lurks in the ruins.The cell phone rings again from the shaft, and Stacey and Amy once again descend into the shaft to look for it. Armed with handmade torches, they begin a search of the inside, which is covered in the ominous vines. As they walk slowly down a hall, they hear the phone ringing again - a high pitched call. A woman lies with her back to them against a wall, and when they touch her, her body falls to the side and the friends scream. Calming themselves to continue with the search, Amy stares at one of the red flowers that now adorn the vines. As she gets closer, you can see that the inside of the red flower is vibrating. It, along with the other flowers, are actually recreating the sound of a cell phone ring by vibrating their stamens. Mesmerized, she goes to touch the flower, and the vines suddenly rear up in protest. The girls run to escape the vines' clutches, and are pulled up out of the shaft just in time.Explaining what happened to them in the shaft, Jeff inspects Matheas' wounds, and announces that there is no way that he will be able to survive if they don't amputate his legs immediately. Since help is not definite, Jeff says that there is no time to waste. Eric protests, and they put it to a vote. Unable to come to a consensus, Matheas weakly calls out to them that he wants them to do it. The girls go to the tent, while Jeff heats up a cast iron cooking pan in the fire. Eric is told to hold down Matheas, while Jeff breaks both leg bones and cuts them off with a hunting knife they found - and finally cauterizes them with the pan. Stacey and Amy clutch each other holding their ears, while they try to block out the screams.They come out when it is over, and watch as the vines retrieve the remaining flesh that Jeff had cut away. The vines are clearly carnivorous, and are waiting for them all to die. Another day gone by, Stacey and Amy go into one of the tents to try and sleep while Eric sits outside on watch. Amy can't sleep, and sits next to Eric while they talk about if they think Stacey is going to be alright. When Amy begins to cry, she leans her head into Eric's shoulder as they sit on a log. Stacey, inside the tent, awakens to the apparent moans and sighs that she believes is coming from Eric & Amy having sex. Furious, she storms out of the tent and accuses the both of them of sleeping together - insisting that she heard them.Amy and Eric both deny it, when Jeff walks up to see what the commotion is. Stacey screams at Amy, and when Jeff tries to intervene, she lashes out and tells him that Amy has cheated on him before. While the four friends argue, they leave Matheas un-guarded, and the vines come from the ruins and choke him. When they finally realize that they left him unattended, Jeff runs to his rescue, but is too late. The vines claim the remainder of his body.In the morning, Amy and Jeff sit next to each other at the top of the steps watching the sunrise. Eric emerges from his tent and asks Jeff to come see Stacey - it is clear that something is very wrong.They enter the tent, and Eric tells Stacey to show them her back. She lifts her shirt, and reveals a dark green patch growing under her skin, and a vine slithers like a snake under the surface. Outside, they decide that they have to cut it out of her. Amy clutches her while Stacey screams in agony. Jeff cuts a large gash by her knee, and grabs the vine that is attempting to burrow further into her leg. They ask her if she wants them to continue, and she cries out to tell them to keep going. They turn her on her back and Jeff makes a larger cut, pulling out foot after foot of vine from her back. Finally removed, they bandage her the best they can.Later, sitting by the fire, they each eat the last of the remaining food - four solitary grapes. Stacey seems slightly hysterical and insists that she can feel another one by her bones. Eric tells her that it's just in her head, but she then says that she can feel them in her head as well. They try and convince her that there isn't anything else in her body, and Amy offers her a pull from the bottle of tequila they found in the tent. Stacey drinks, and a flash of the wiggling vine shows up on her furrowed brow. The three friend's eyes open wide, and immediately look away so she can't see their reactions. Their silence says it all, and she tells them to cut again - Jeff says that there can't be anymore cutting - she has already lost too much blood.All four asleep, Stacey awakens first and ambles out of the tent. She hobbles along searching for the hunting knife that they used to cut out the vines the other day. Eric wakes up, and all three emerge from the tent to find Stacey standing in a pool of her own blood, slowly cutting herself to try and remove the invading weeds. They tell her to give them the knife - but she is clearly beyond reason. When Jeff tries to get her to hand it over, she lashes out and cuts him in the palm. Eric now tries to get her attention, and she turns and viciously buries the knife into his chest. Eric falls to the ground and dies from the knife wound, and the vines once again come forward to claim their meal. Stacey - screaming from the pain and realising what she has just done, begs Amy to kill her. While she begs, small vines wave from the cuts on her body. Amy looks pleadingly at Jeff, and Jeff quietly walks to Eric's body, and puts Stacey out of her misery.Jeff now smears blood on Amy's face and arms, and explains to her that she must run, while he creates a diversion. He walks down the steps holding her, presumably dead, in his arms, and lays her down on the ground. The men, still there, watch him warily, while Jeff starts a long tirade about himself and the people that they had let die. He wanders along the edge of the ruins, and on cue. Amy gets up suddenly and runs as fast as possible towards the abandoned Jeep they found earlier. The men shoot Jeff with several arrows, and the large man shoots him with the final bullet.Amy, chased by the men, incredibly manages to reach the Jeep and starts the car. She speeds away, down the road to an unknown fate. The next day, Demitris' two other friends that had planned to join them, entered the clearing, calling out their missing friend's name. - end***** BELOW IS THE SYNOPSIS OF THE BOOK *****On vacation in Cancun, six friends go on an excursion to visit an archaeological dig near Coba. Jeff, a type A guy who is set to begin medical school in the fall with his girlfriend, Amy; Stacy, Amy's best friend, an irresponsible and promiscuous aspiring social worker whose nickname is "Spacy" along with her boyfriend, Eric, an immature high school teacher; a fun-loving Greek guy nicknamed "Pablo," who lacks a common language with any of the others; and Mathias, an intense, thoughtful German tourist round out the cast of characters.Mathias' brother, Henrich, vanished shortly before the Americans and Greeks met Mathias--he met a beautiful Dutch archaeologist and decided to meet her at her dig, leaving a hastily drawn map for Mathias to follow in case he wanted to join him. Jeff, Stacy, Amy, Eric, and Pablo decide to accompany Mathias in his search for his brother, taking a bus to Coba for the day. Pablo leaves a copy of the map at their hotel for his two companions--who had gone to fish--to find, thinking that they may want to join the group. Things immediately start to go wrong, as the group isn't well prepared for the heat and insects, and the journey becomes creepy. The poorly drawn map leads them to a Mayan village, where the grievously poor inhabitants appear at first disinterested, and then hostile to the foreigners. The Mayans try to force the vacationers to leave the area. Unmoved by the villagers pleas, they find an almost-hidden trail that they follow to the ruins.Gun, rifle, and bow-and-arrow wielding Mayan villagers then will not allow the kids to leave. They are forced to climb a large hill covered in vines and red flowers. The situation turns increasingly disturbing as they find Henrich's corpse, covered in the vine and flowers.Further investigation uncovers numerous other corpses covered in the plant, and the plant, it turns out, secretes an acidic sap which burns them all when it is crushed.A ringing mobile phone at the bottom of the mine under the hill lures Pablo, but the rope breaks as he attempts to retrieve it and he falls, breaking his back. Eric is injured slightly trying to rescue him.Gradually, the group discovers that the vine is sentient and carnivorous, as it begins to lure them to their deaths - one by one - perfectly mimicking the voices of others.Jeff and Mathias amputate Pablo's legs after the plant eats part of them.Amy is the first to go, strangled by the plant whilst Jeff - angry at her for being drunk, ignores her struggles, mistaking for strangled cries for sickness. The plant enters Eric's wound and, though they had removed the bulk of it, Eric insists it's still inside him as he repeatedly cuts himself in an effort to remove it.Jeff is able to hold the group together to a certain extent, always with new ideas about how to conquer their challenges. But, he is ultimately killed by the villagers' arrows while trying to sneak past them. Air-headed and distressed Stacy -- who has held the hope until the last that the other two Greeks will arrive to save them leaves Pablo unattended, and the plant kills and eats him. Eric flays himself alive trying to remove the plant, which has begun to take over his body again, and then accidentally kills Mathias with his knife when Mathias attempts to stop him. With only Eric and Stacy left, Eric begs her to kill him and put him out of his misery, which she ultimately does. Then, she slashes her wrists on the path at the base of the hill as a warning to others, but the plant moves her away, just as it did other warning signs put up by other victims.The Mayans leave.Three days later, Pablo's two Greek friends, with a few Brazilians, climb onto the hill to seek out their traveling companion, bringing several others with them.*THIS IS A SYNOPSIS OF THE BOOK..NOT THE MOVIE.* | violence, horror, murder | train | imdb | I wasn't too psyched for this movie beforehand, but I got a free pass and figured why the hell not and wound up seeing one of the better horror films I've seen in a good while.
Thes best thing I can say about "The Ruins" is that it plays its hand honestly, there's no tweeny BS, no winking at the camera, it's just a classic situational horror film that just keeps getting from bad to worse in the best possible way.
It's clever in a sense, creepy to the bone and new with an insane entertainment level that it keeps your attention and doesn't let go.I found the "creatures" an effective and nice, sinister twist to deal with next to the other conflict of being stranded upon the Mayan ruins away from all civilization except the natives who are hellbent on letting them die up there, and I thought while the characters were stupid, that was the right way to handle the situation considering that most people would lose their wit in situations like that after some time, and I always like it when horrors try to make their characters believable, because that makes up for them not being special.
It was so compellingly good just to watch what all happened, and I really enjoyed the scenes and thought that it had excellent suspense and a wonderful atmosphere of claustrophobia and paranoia.Yes, it gets a little bland around the edges, and like I said, it's not like it ranks among the greatest films of all time, but I truly do think it is a satisfying taste of what effective, legendary horrors could do if they were made with better care, because it has all the right substances, but just falls flat a little with it's slight mediocrity.
It has all the hallmarks of being yet another in a sad long line of horror movies that con the faithful into watching it, only to disappoint with an unadventurous plot, making a quick bit of cash before disappearing in the stale popcorn tinted wind.
Our fears that this is going to be just another case of guessing what order the young holiday makers are going to be sliced and diced, are quickly vanquished, this is a tale of survival, of a youthful group dynamic under severe threat, and bonus here is that the antagonist is something very different to what normally stalks these genre movies.This really could have been a cheese fest, an unintentionally funny film, using gore and nudity to hide shortcomings in the screenplay, but it's not, writer Scott Smith has provided director and cast with material that pulses with an unexpected bleakness, a facing up to mortality at a young age, and crucially the characters do viable things given their circumstance, and that's mighty refreshing in a era of horror bulging with stupidity.
Most American horror movies seem to want to rush through the opening scenes, to get to the so-called scare moments, but Smith takes time with his plot, as he did with his other script, the brilliant A Simple Plan.
The script allows time for the cast to make their characters believable (for a horror movie)and as the horror and terror mounts, they react in different ways.The direction by Carter Smith is good.
One of the better horror films of recent years, is creepy and scary and the sort of thing that makes your skin crawl.
The reason the film works is that the film has decent characters and it does things that are decidedly not your typical horror movie choices.
However, this movie on the other hand delivers a couple of scares and some intensely disturbing images that will make you look the other way.The film focuses on four college students who are on a vacation in Mexico and then suddenly they meet a stranger who invites them to a place that is not even on the map, (So far there is already a typical horror cliché).
I have to tell you from the minute that I saw The Ruins trailer, I knew I wanted to see this movie, we've been needing a good horror movie, especially for 2008.
It's a typical horror movie mistake, characters are neglected and we are left guessing, but this is still worth the watch for the non-stop scares.A four friends are on vacation in Mexico, just enjoying the time, getting drunk, dancing, the usual stuff.
They have to figure a way out while being trapped there by the armed tribe, but something has gotten "under their skin".The Ruins is a decent horror movie, the best I've seen?
So after reading the book before the I wanted to see the film it made me more anxious for the film to be released, and to be honest it was a fresh cup of horror.The Ruins tells the story of four Americans who travel with a German to an Ancient Mayan temple for a leisurely vacation, but when they stumble against unfriendly locals their lives change forever.This is not your average clichéd horror *cough* Prom Night *cough*, but it delivers a new way to terrorize the audience.
The acting is superb and their emotions shine through, the death scenes were fairly gory and very depressing but the ending only slightly tips me off.Overall, The Ruins is a new type of horror that you should consider seeing, maybe once, but just a piece of advice: I recommend that you read the original novel by Scott Smith first before seeing the film..
Spine-tingling survival horror film based on the novel by Scott Smith is one effectively shocking thrill ride.American college students on vacation in Mexico become stranded on an ancient Mayan temple where their lives are threatened by a surprising and deadly force.The Ruins surpassed all my expectations.
The disappointingly predictable succession of related shots and scenes contributed to the underdevelopment of the horrifying phase of the film.The crew responsible for producing the trailer deserve considerable recognition for masterfully presenting a set of sequences that attracted seemingly larger-than-deserved opening weekend crowds for such a cinematic fiasco of the horror genre.In my opinion The Ruins will be disregarded as one of the least scariest movies in film history, despite its lurid gruesomeness..
From obvious directing mistakes in the first 15 minutes of the movie, to lame acting to hysterical special effects, this falls into the pit of another bad horror flick.
So, of course, being smart horror movie characters, they go deeper into the ruins that have killed everyone else so far.
Plus there is eye-candy aplenty for viewers of both sexes (I was more than happy with both brunette Jena Malone as the tasty nerd type, and blonde hottie Laura Ramsey, who obligingly strips off at the beginning of the film).By no means a particularly good movie, The Ruins still gets a very reasonable 6/10 just for being able to keep me interested 'til the end, and providing me with a few giggles along the way..
I saw the Ruins last night, and from the beginning credits i noticed Dream works had something to do with the filming, so i thought hey this shouldn't be bad, well i was so wrong, it was the worse movie i had ever saw and i enjoy mostly horror and thrillers even the down right cheesy one but this one takes the cake, i think who ever wrote this film shouldn't be writing movies ever again, the movie was a big joke.....i wish i could have gotten my money back, the funny thing is everybody around me and my friend in the theater thought the same thing and at the end there were a lot a lot of boos being said, actually pretty funny....My overall opinion of the RUINS, i would have to give it 1 star and a 10 star to say it down right sucked.....
the movie had some new ideas, but considering that the majority of the movie is spent with the characters at the ruins, and that this is a horror movie, the people at our theater including myself laughed the whole time.
just like in every horror movie, there is a lot of stupid kids who do a lot of stupid things that even the most idiotic people in the world wouldn't even do, and then they end up somewhere they shouldn't, doing more stupid things they shouldn't be doing.
Most of the modern horror movies are not trying to come up with something interesting as and idea, they just want to put as much blood as they can, so the viewer can turn his head in disgust or for the hardcore fans,enjoy the cutting, the burning and the screaming of the victims.
I wish that hour and twenty minutes back, I could have picked my ass at least 200 times or I could have been taking a nap, Probably watching a better movie like Finding Nemo.
I'm not sure if there's a lot of lot of horror movies which the plot is passed inside a Mayan temple, but I didn't watch any other at least
But if we exclude this "possible novelty" I think all the rest is pure average and even unsatisfying.
The situation they find themselves in is completely ludicrous and then when you realise what the main evil thing is you just laugh because it is completely ridiculous.Obviously being a horror movie the hot blonde has to get naked and then find excuses to take her clothes off whenever possible and there has got to be lots of blood and gore.
The movie succeeds with both these tasks but in the most mundane routine way possible which leaves you completely uninterested in the plot and in the characters fates.In summary, its a below average horror movie that doesn't really make any sense and you know exactly what is going to happen the entire way through which just makes the whole experience feel old and overgrown..
I'd recommend anyone who likes a good horror read to get this book, even if you didn't care for the movie.Now onto the movie.
The acting is great and the cinematography brings out the terror in the daylight which is somewhat unusual for a horror film.The one thing I felt this movie was lacking was the suspense and terror of being trapped onto of the ruins.
Some; one scene, not much is shown.Like "Cloverfield," you laugh, you cry, you get slightly disturbed but you leave the theatre with a grin on your face knowing you didn't waste that $7.50.So if you're looking for a movie to watch tonight, "The Ruins" is a good bet..
The Ruins is probably one of the best horror movies i've seen in a while.
About a quarter of the way into "The Ruins" I thought to myself, "take out the gore, the nudity and the swearing and you've got yourself one cool little 1960's monster movie".Seriously.While "The Ruins" will certainly not appeal to everyone (the crowd I saw an advanced screening with last night didn't seem to like it much), I think those with an appreciation of the genre, especially those weened on the classic horror flicks of yesteryear will find this an enjoyable, albeit disturbing and graphic, retread of stuff like "Day of the Triffids" and other similar killer plant movies.It moves along at a brisk pace and the characters do things that normal people probably would (a rarity in horror films).There are definitely moments of graphic violence that won't set well with parents or people who are squeamish by nature.
Characters were undeveloped, the monsters (plants in this case) left unexplained, and clichés were dripping all over.The only thing that is mildly effective are some of the bloody/gory scenes, although the gore pales in comparison with movies like High Tension or Ichi The Killer.
Smith, writer of "A Simple Plan" (the novel and the 1998 movie), also wrote the 2008 novel & film "The Ruins," which is about two college couples vacationing in Mexico who hook up with a German and visit an unknown Mayan pyramid off the beaten track.
They are terrorized when local Natives surround the pyramid with deadly weapons, refusing to permit them to leave, and more horrified by the reason why!"The Ruins" refuses to make the mistake of too many conventional horror flicks by not going over-the-top with the situation, the "monster" or the horror/thrills, which makes these films more goofy than horrifying.
For instance, take the ending of "The Ruins" (which is different than the book and, in my opinion, better): In a typical horror movie there would've been a wild (i.e. thrilling but totally unbelievable) vehicle pursuit by the Mayan descendants; not here.
I found myself, as well as the other 6 people in the audience laughing at this film, not for its comedic value, but for the fact that someone actually thought this was a movie worth making (which, in itself, is funny enough).
If you see the movie first, you'll never believe that the story you watched could be a good book, but you'll be missing out..
When watching the previews, and the commercials on TV, I honestly thought this movie was going to be slightly different than other horror flops.4 Americans go on a vacation to Mexico.
Later and sadly when the movie already left theaters I learned that "The Ruins" actually revolves on murderous flesh-eating plants and some websites and reviews even made comparisons between this film and "Day of the Triffids" (which just happens to be a huge personal favorite of mine), so I couldn't wait until it came out on rental.
It was so much better than I expected, and would have to say it was one of the best horror movies I have ever seen.
You really feel so much for the characters, nothing like in any horror movie before and at parts, its hard to watch what they have to go through.
A group of four college graduates are enjoying an exotic vacation in Mexico.When another traveler,German named Mathias,approaches Amy, Stacy,Jeff and Eric with a proposal to head into the jungle in search on an archaeological site where his brother has disappeared,they agree to go with him.Big mistake.Once there they quickly find themselves cornered in by tribesmen unwilling to let them leave alive.Unlucky for them the main danger is growing on Mayan temple.The vines are thirsty for human blood...Scott Smith adapts his own gruesome novel,but why he decided to change extremely pessimistic ending of the book is beyond me.Still the film is watchable and surprisingly bleak.It spills plenty of blood and gore and its characters are believable and care for each other.Of course they do some stupid things like exploring dark corners or descending through deep holes in search of a phone.Overall,"The Ruins" is a fine piece of survival horror that is much better than most of the crap being put out today..
All "The Ruins" proved to be was several re-hashed ideas from other bad horror movies over the last decade.Without giving much of the story away, imagine a 90 minute play combining Cabin Fever, Touristas, and Hostel where there is only about 4 pages of scripted dialog, no opportunity for the audience to connect with the characters, and no good resolution in the end.This kind of film has become a disturbing trend in the industry and has unfortunately led the horror genre into more of a "shock horror" line of crap designed to gross out the viewer.
But while the movie does come dangerously close to that line a few times, the actors and characters manage to generate enough sympathy that I felt bad for them, as opposed to wanting to hasten their deaths.Killer plants can either sound really cool or really silly, depending on how much of a horror fan you are (or at least, how much of an optimist you are).
It's appropriate gore (lol) for the premise, and it's disturbing to look at but hard to turn away from.The actors are really hot, which isn't necessarily a good thing for horrors as it might lead to stereotyping the movie as "B," but surprisingly, the two leads had just come off solid turns in acclaimed movies (Jonathan Tucker, from In the Valley of Elah, and Jena Malone, from Into the Wild) and I can't help but to wonder why they took a step backwards in their career (well okay, it was probably for the money).I could guess how the movie would end long before it did, so that was kinda disappointing.
The Ruins is no more a life affirming movie than the book on which it is based is a feel-good page-turner.
Well worth the watch, one of the best pure horror movies i've seen.
What certain characters endure in the movie is not the same as the book down to the very ending of the film being completely different from the on the book.
The acting is pretty good by most of the people involved and the special effects were solid it was just the story line that i had a problem with.So this movie is about a group of friends who travel to Mexico for a vacation.
The Ruins is a great horror movie, it's got plenty of gore, jumps, twists, and the other good stuff, along with a good villain.
Unlike most movies, this movie makes you feel like you are trapped with the characters in the ruins.
the directors always film in Mexico eh, there are a lot of better places to filmThe movie is kind of ordinary and you can guess some stuff,The movie don't have a story about what happened in those ruins or About the things that happens in there...
The idea is definitely something different and the whole concept of the story is almost original when you compare it to the overload of horror remakes we've been getting for so many years now.The acting in this film is rather competent, and the character's aren't complete idiots like some of them seem to be in the novel.
I'll say no more.The Ruins is one of the better horror movies to come out this year. |
tt0350811 | The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer | Based as a prequel to the Stephen King mini-serie's 'Rose Red', 'The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer' is based Rose Red, a haunted house with a disturbing past. The Seattle mansion was constructed at the turn of the 20th century by oil magnate, John Rimbauer, who built the house for his bride, Ellen, while on honeymoon in Africa. From the early stages of construction, the house is rocked by tragedy and scandal. Murders, suicides and mysterious disappearances suggest Rose Red has a mind of its own, choosing who shall vanish within its walls. The movie hears Ellen Rimbauer in voice over read her diary and are given a glimpse of the Seattle elite in the early 1900's. We see Ellen Rimbauer develop from a young bride to a tormented matriarch. The diary entries gradually become darker and more daunting. Guests to Rose Red vanish and Ellen is afraid of her own home. Societal pressures keep her married to John Rimbauer. Aside from the house's frightening faults, Mrs. Rimbauer candidly discusses the cruel and sexually-twisted intentions of her once-admired husband. The diary includes recollections of explicit erotic acts, serial murder and sexual ambiguity. 'The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer increases in disturbance until its abrupt end.'Rose Red' documents the fictional work of the fictional Dr. Joyce Reardon in her attempt to unlock the secrets of the house before it's demolished. The troubled history of Rose Red and its inhabitants are the subjects of Dr. Reardon's life-long work. Her mentor vanished from the house thirty years prior and its been her obsession ever since. In 1998, Dr. Reardon purchased Ellen Rimbauer's personal journal. The writings were "authenticated" and compiled for a publication titled The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red. (There was a book published as a tie-in promotion for the 'Rose Red' mini-series and authorship under the pseudonym Joyce Reardon. Controversy over authorship went on over years whether Stephen or Tabitha King could have possible tomed the book until it was determined that Ridley Pearson was actually the author.) The movie was based on this book and the voice-overs are tken directly from the diary entries although some liberty is taken with both characters, timelines, and plot.After watching The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, you'll want to see the mini-series you will want to see Stephen King's Rose Red mini-series. | murder | train | imdb | A "creepy" movie, not a horror flick..
The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer definitely held my interest enough and made me curious to see Rose Red.
In my opinion, Ellen Rimbauer was the better of the two.I loved the historical aspect of the movie, giving a definite history and personality to the house than a typical haunted house movie does.
It was unique and realistic in this way, perhaps one of the reasons I preferred it to "Rose Red".This movie contains much more mystery than "Rose Red" and is much less typical.
It's a great movie to make you think and wonder about the house, and does no more than insinuate answers, which leaves you in the mood, thinking, and drawing your own conclusions to the story, which I find much more satisfying.Left me dreaming about the Winchester Mystery House.
The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: An unexpected prequel.
I wasn't aware that Stephen Kings Rose Red (2002) had a prequel, upon finding out I was quite excited as the potential was really quite good.Sadly this was not penned by Stephen King at all which I find to be a really strange decision.It tells the story of Rose Reds construction and how it came to be.
The setting, the cinematography, the writing is all quite good but feels forced.I enjoyed Rose Red, though I don't think it was exactly ground breaking it did manage to accomplish what it set out to do.
I don't think however that this does.Though it tells a great story it gradually falls apart and when the credits rolled I was left with a frustrating number of unanswered questions.I think perhaps it could have done with an additional 30-60 minutes to flesh it out, in it's present state it is passable but very underwhelming.The Good:Couple of great momentsLooks greatThe Bad:Few plot holesToo shortThings I Learnt From This Movie:I'm anti-remakes/reboots but this and Rose Red could perhaps be considered.
I have certainly seen bigger budgeted movies in the genre far worse than this effort, it is competently acted, has some nice visual touches, and the director knows how to best utilise the monolithic house.
That said, without genuine suspense it is hard to succeed in the genre, so without a fearful story as well it has little to no chance of making it.
The crux of the matter is that the story really isn't that interesting, we have seen and read about this plot on numerous occasions, so for a TV movie to win you round it really is asking way too much.
Basic ingredients are all here, creepy house, pretty wife confused, servant with big role to play, and of course the genre staple of sexual deviant husband with dark overtones.
The film moves along sedately which is fine if the pay off is worth the wait, sadly it isn't here and it limps over the finish line instead of leaping over as the build up had promised.Just below average for me, but a gentle round of applause for effort to those involved, 4/10..
I am disappointed because the film never explains the disappearances or the circumstances around Rose Red. I think it would have been better if they tried to convey the cause of the mysterious disappearance of April, Ellen, Sukeena, and anybody else who vanished for no reason.
I wish Rose Red existed so we can visit but it's too far-fetched and it doesn't explain the paranormal around the house to the audience.
The house Rose Red mini-series should have answered what happened to the people trapped in the house whether by body or spirits.
This movie fails to capture any bit of the mystery and intrigue of the best selling book it was based upon.
It's a shame the movie turned out so bad because the book was so wonderfully done that I found myself believing that Ellen Rimbauer actually existed and wrote those words herself.
The movie did not capture Ellen's innocence and naiveness when she first entered into John's life nor her gradual descent into insanity.
Using the Stephen King characters from "Rose Red," THE DIARY OF ELLEN RIMBAUER is a prequel to that little saga of a monstrous house that seems to be devouring its victims.This version of the Rose Red story is handsomely photographed and well acted but suffers from a script that never really bothers to explain anything.
The viewer is left pondering plot details up until the very end, when again there is a letdown of even more ambiguity.Nevertheless, it manages to impress with the performances, the settings, the costumes and the plot itself is a mixed bag of so many thrillers from the past, even including the more genteel JANE EYRE or any of the Victorian novels that dealt with a house of dark decay and a sinister leading man.STEVEN BRAND is the darkly handsome head of the household whose soul is corrupted by carnal desires, an unfaithful man who brings his bride LISA BRENNER to live in Rose Red, where she is gradually subjected to all sorts of vague fears and terrors and things that go bump in the night.It's really silly stuff, not to be taken seriously, but does give rise to some goosebumps once in awhile.
I had nightmares from the horrible plot which never develops; just rent these movies instead: Poltergeist, Burnt Offerings, House.
The acting is OK at best, maybe more believable if there was some background to work with, but NOT.Even though its made for TV I have to say they should have done much better.The cast, location and props are well done but without character development and a plot with background information...
The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer was supposed to be the prequel to answer some of the questions about Rose Red's history from last years mini-series.
Instead, it seems like Rose Red answers more questions about The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer.
It starts out with the building of Rose Red and how there was a nurder the day the a young and engaged Ellen Rimbauer first lays eyes on the place.
My first and perhaps biggest complaint was the fact the place and the atmosphere seemed foreboding and dark, there was not as much a supernatural element to it as Rose Red. People disappeared in it, but if I recall correctly one was a famous lady who disappeared.
Instead we get to see the horrors of how much a philandering, sex addicted and possibly sypohilis infected bastard John Rimbauer was and how everybody he slept with then disappeared in the house.
He was basically the worst seen being in the Rose Red mansion.
The movie also came up short in that it stopped before Ellen and her faithful friend from Africa also disappeared or had something happen to them in the house.
There was not the horror or even suspense element that had been in Rose Red.The house's history had been made somehow less scary than what it had been in the subsequent movie that followed it.
Like, I said the movie was decent, but it left you wanting more of everything.
It was a decent movie about a mysterious place and the sadness suffered by a women with a sex addicted and philandering husband but little else.
So the Diary of Ellen Rimbauer was a supplemental book done after Stephen King's Rose Red aired.Now, I never read the Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, but I did watch the TV movie they produced, which was based on that book.
And frankly, I can't see how they could ever justify the book or the movie existing.The movie is just basically a re-hashed story of Ellen Rimbauer's history with the house and her lousy husband.
At no point during the movie do they actually ever explain more than what Rose Red already established.It doesn't explain the hauntings, or the disappearances or anything like that.
To add further insult to injury, they couldn't even get the original cast member from Rose Red to play Ellen in the Diary of Ellen Rimbauer.The movie also contradicts Rose Red in a few instances, which is honestly insane.
There is nothing in this film that isn't covered in Rose Red. Almost every scene in this film is an extended cut of the flashbacks from the first film.Rose Red was just shy of a masterpiece but unless you really really want to see for yourself, the 90 minutes spent watching this film could be used to watch something else...anything else really.Performance and visual style are excellent, but does that matter when we've seen it all before?(I am writing this to meet with IMDb's quota of lines for an individual review...
I haven't seen the original Rose Red yet, but I did pick up this dvd at the rental store.
It was decently acted, had appropriately scary mood music, in other words everything you needed to make a good horror flick.
I'd pass on this, unless you've seen Rose Red and wanted to see it's history.
I'll possibly pick up Rose Red at the video store one of these days, or maybe not -- just wasn't compelling enough from this prequel.
Better than Rose Red. Being that Stephen King had something to do with this prequel to the horrible Rose Red, I was hesitant.
Wow. What a good little ghost story.
The Diary of Eleen Rimbauer is creepy by all means,but an alright film to add at that.The Diary of Ellen did what (The Others) did, make a scary ghost story without any gore.The problem is that this is a prequel and it dosen't answer a lot of qustion to led to the first one, Stephen King's Rose Red. Rose Red was scary and had you on the edge of your,but the acting was alright(in which this one improves on).It made us wonder what the hell is wrong with the house.This calls for a prequel=the origin of a film or television show.
The acting was surperb,I mean all actors was excellent.Steven Brand who played Ellen's husband stole the role and film,with his wicked sideburns.
The events that happen in that house - Rose Red - made me wonder and wait for a creepy if not unexpected explanation.
The movie is not creative enough although it has a pretty good start and a lot of elements to play with.
For example the origins of the black woman, the girl's handicap, the sexual behavior of the husband and the secrets of the house discovered by Ellen.
A much better film than Rose Red..
This film describes the events chronicled by Ellen Rimbauer the wife of John Rimbauer.
John who is shown in the film as a man who indulged in sexual excess and numerous affairs with women before and after marriage to Ellen.
John gifts the mansion Rose Red to Ellen after a safari to Africa where Ellen falls prey to a mysterious ailment.
A bizarre and genuine manifestation occurs however during one of the seances.The suspense in the film is excellent and builds up gradually.
John is portrayed by a handsome Steven Brand and Ellen by beautiful Lisa Brenner.
Baxley and overall a better film and prequel to Rose red..
I saw the movie Rose Red, and was wondering if anyone knew whether or not the house still stands, or did Steve Rimbauer tore it down already?
I love how Stephen King gave his view of what Joyce's team would encounter while in Rose Red. Does anyone know that Rose Red is a true story but me?
so whats up with Rose Red?
So is it possible that something like in the movie the Poltergeist happened?
I have to agree that 'The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer' was better than 'Rose Red', but I did wish that they kind of used more of Ellen and John's marital woes.
I saw Rose Red not too long ago, and not too long after having read the book.
I was traveling on my own, making a documentary for the University of California, and literally on my last day in Spain, I noticed a book called My Life at Rose Red, by Stephen King, at a liquor store in a town called Benidorm on the southeastern coast.
Having been a Stephen King fan for most of my life (I opened the floodgates of horror novels when I read `It' in 6th grade), I was amazed at how much of a character study the book was, but the movie dealt with the mystery of the haunted Rose Red, not with it's construction, which is what the book is all about.
The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, I think, makes an honest attempt to go back and tell that part of the Rose Red story.
What is truly odd, however, is that the movie that actually tells the story of Ellen and John Rimbauer, the story of the construction of Rose Red, about which Stephen Kings' book is written, is actually based on a journal of Ellen's that was written by a different author.
King's book is actually in the form of Ellen's diary, although he delves suspiciously close to novel writing at many times.
Its interesting that the miniseries needs a prequel to tell the story of the book upon which it is based.Okay, I'm getting a little repetitive.
Much more digestible at less than half the length of Rose Red, the movie unfortunately never really comes out of the shadow of the movie that its content precedes, always coming across as a prequel that leads up to something else.
Maybe it's because it didn't have enough life of its own or because I always got the feeling that it was purposely covering the holes left by Rose Red, providing an excuse for that movie having so little to do with the book upon which it was supposedly based.
Either way, taken together the two movies provide a pretty interesting ghost story, one about a haunted mansion that actually has such a turbulent past leading to why it is haunted (hence the need for this prequel).
It's just too bad that it takes a total of more than six hours for them to tell that story.
Although I have not seen Rose Red, i thought it was an okay movie.
To clarify some of the comments that were made about this movie, The film DOES explain the disappearances of the characters indirectly.
The characters that disappeared had either a close relationship to Ellen, or had something to do with her husband (who had a very large sexual appetite).
Rose Red is more or less a spirit controlling the house that was quite fond of Ellen.
The house grew to love Ellen.
The mysterious happenings occurred so that Rose Red could get her to see that her husband was really a shaky and unfaithful character.
They also occurred because the house wanted Ellen to remain fond of only Rose Red, which is why April disappeared as well.
Basically, Rose Red grew jealous of Ellen's and April's relationship.
Sukeena never disappeared, Ellen's husband just had her put in jail after April disappeared thinking that she was the cause.With certain horror movies, every detail, every word should be payed attention to, otherwise you will have questions afterwards..
A very strange story in this film.
A story that does not look like Stephen King's traditional stories.
Strangely enough it comes after the film "Rose Red" that is posterior in story time.
The element that is typically Kingian is the haunted house with some connection to Indians behind.
The story itself is some kind of distorted and warped "Gone with the Wind" in a setting that looks like and sounds like a Victorian house from England's 19th century, the Bronte Sisters maybe.
The main character, Ellen Rimbauer herself is more like one of these feminine characters from this English literary period.
Little to do with Stephen King's social approach and even historical time.
Yet the film is outstanding and mesmerizing in its slow rhythm and its slow building of the terror that is attached to the man of the house, to the man that has to be eliminated.
What's more there are so many corners in the house that are not on the blue print that we would like to know how all that is possible.
But that is original for Stephen King.
There are several other haunted houses in King but never a house that has the power of growing, even if the Dark Tower could be seen as such, though it is not and it is only the character that is growing through mythical and maybe mystical time as he is going up the tower.
And in this case the evil that haunts the house is not very clear, clearly identified.
Ellen Rimbauer's Diary clearly explains that there were Native American workers, an accident, a subsequent curse, and so the ground is soured as in the Mic Mac burial grounds in Stephen King's Pet Sematary.
It also pointedly states that because of John Rimbauer's "sins," atonement had to be made."Build me to the heavens" was the house's price for that atonement.
The subsequent disappearances were a direct result of Ellen's bargain with the house (and the ground upon which it lay), as these victims were taken and used as builders from "the other side." The house had two distinct sides; one that was here and one which was on the other side of the veil.
That idea was further explained in the actual movie, "Rose Red" when you see Emory's mother coming at him through the mirror.
Mirrors are oftentimes used as portals; gateways through the Veil.I did, however, have issues with this supplemental in that the movie goes out of its way to plainly document the passing of Rimbauer's partner, Posey.
Otherwise, I found this quite informative, beautifully done, and praise-worthy considering what it attempts to do.Unfortunately, it didn't quite live up to its own expectations and thereby disappointed the fans who needed this necessary back-story to feel a kinship with the house and the story that is "Rose Red."It rates a 6.4/10 from...the Fiend :. |
tt1515091 | Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows | In 1891, Irene Adler delivers a package to Dr. Hoffmanstahl, payment for a letter he was to deliver. Hoffmanstahl opens the package, triggering a hidden bomb that is prevented from detonating by the intervention of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes takes the letter while Adler and Hoffmanstahl escape. Holmes finds Hoffmanstahl assassinated moments later. Adler meets with Professor Moriarty to explain the events, but Moriarty, deeming her position compromised by her love for Holmes, poisons and kills her.
Later, Dr. Watson arrives at 221B Baker Street, where Holmes discloses that he is investigating a series of seemingly unrelated murders, terrorist attacks and business acquisitions around the globe that he has connected to Moriarty. After meeting up with his brother Mycroft at Watson's bachelor party, Holmes meets with Gypsy fortune-teller Simza, the intended recipient of the letter he took from Adler, sent by her brother Rene. Holmes defeats an assassin sent to kill Simza, but she flees before Holmes can interrogate her. After the wedding of Watson and Mary Morstan, Holmes meets Moriarty for the first time. Voicing his respect for Holmes' perseverance, Moriarty informs Holmes that he murdered Adler. Holmes vengefully vows to defeat him and subtly requests Watson and Mary be left alone now that Watson is no longer working with him, but Moriarty indicates he will kill them anyway.
Moriarty's men attack Watson and Mary on a train to their honeymoon. Holmes, having followed the pair to protect them, throws Mary from the train into a river below where she is rescued by Mycroft. After defeating Moriarty's men, Holmes and Watson travel to Paris to locate Simza. When she is found, Holmes tells Simza that she has been targeted because Rene is working for Moriarty and may have told her about his plans. Simza takes the pair to the headquarters of an anarchist group to which she and Rene had formerly belonged. They learn that the anarchists have been forced to plant bombs for Moriarty.
The trio follows Holmes' deduction that the bomb is in the Paris Opera. However, Holmes realizes too late that he has been tricked and that the bomb is in a nearby hotel; the bomb kills a number of assembled businessmen. Holmes discovers that the bomb was a cover for the specific assassination of Alfred Meinhard, one of the attendees, by Moriarty's henchman, Sebastian Moran. Meinhard's death grants Moriarty ownership of Meinhard's arms factory in Germany. Holmes, Watson, and Simza travel there, following clues in Rene's letters.
At the factory, Moriarty captures, interrogates, and tortures Holmes while Watson fights Moran. Holmes spells out Moriarty's plot, revealing that the Professor secretly acquired shares in multiple war profiteering companies using various pseudonyms to conceal his identity and intends to instigate a world war to make himself a fortune. Meanwhile, Watson uses the cannon he had been hiding behind to destroy the watchtower in which Moran is concealed. The structure collapses into the warehouse where Moriarty is holding Holmes captive. Watson, Simza, and an injured Holmes reunite and escape aboard a moving train. Holmes deduces that Moriarty's final target will be a peace summit in Switzerland, creating an international incident.
At the summit, Holmes deduces that Rene is the assassin and that he is disguised as one of the ambassadors, having been given radical reconstructive surgery by Hoffmanstahl. Holmes and Moriarty, who is also in attendance, retreat upon a balcony to discuss their competing plans over a game of chess. Watson and Simza find Rene and stop his assassination attempt, but Rene is discreetly killed by Moran. Despite his war being averted, Moriarty remains confident in his victory, warning Holmes that the nations of Europe will inevitably go to war with one another regardless of Moriarty's manipulations. Holmes then reveals that, while being tortured by Moriarty, he replaced the professor's personal diary that contained all his plans and financing with a duplicate. The original was sent to Mary in London, who decrypted the code using a book that Holmes had noticed in Moriarty's office during their first meeting, before passing the information to Inspector Lestrade, who seizes Moriarty's assets and donates his fortune to anti-war charities. Holmes and Moriarty anticipate an impending physical altercation, and both realise that Moriarty would win due to Holmes' injured shoulder. Out of options and with the vindictive Moriarty promising to torture and kill Watson and Mary afterward, Holmes grabs Moriarty and throws them both over the balcony and into the Reichenbach Falls below.
Following Holmes' funeral, Watson and Mary prepare to have their belated honeymoon when Watson receives a package containing a breathing device of Mycroft's that Holmes had noticed before the summit. Realizing that Holmes may still be alive, Watson leaves his office to find the delivery man. Holmes, having concealed himself in Watson's office, reads Watson's memoirs on the typewriter and adds a question mark after the words "The End". | entertaining, comedy, mystery, murder, flashback, good versus evil, psychedelic, plot twist, alternate history | train | wikipedia | Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Dr. Watson (Jude Law) contend with the salvation of civilization mostly through athletics, aided by director Guy Ritchie's considerable skill with the camera and graphics.But in the second half, when the duo moves swiftly but intellectually to confront the arch villain Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris), my mind is at equilibrium, renewing my love of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original brainy, eccentric sleuth.
With Inspector Lastrade just a memory and Holmes's love, Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), appearing briefly, we are left to enjoy not so much the interaction of Holmes and Watson but the explosiveness of Holmes and Moriarty.After a first half of explosions, the second half satisfies traditionalists like me for the chess game of life and death—and that's the suspenseful fate of the world in those pieces.
Together, they try to stop Moriarty from continuing his cruel schemes and Holmes learns about Moriarty's plan to start a war in which he will personally benefit from.There are lots of action scenes that keep the film exciting and keep the film running in a constant, fast pace.
Stephen Fry plays the role of Mycroft Holmes to perfection.I'd like to take some time discussing the character of Professor James Moriarty.
With powerful performances from the cast, this film is one not to be missed in this movie season.Final Verdict: "A Game of Shadows" is a stylish, fast-paced, yet comedic adventure which improves upon its predecessor in several aspects, and surely a highly recommended film.Rating: 8/10 Thanks for reading my review on "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows".
As much as I loved the character interactions and insane chemistry between Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, I was very much let down by Sherlock Holmes when I first saw it a few years ago.
Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr.) believes it to be the work of the brilliant Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris).
He enlists the help of his sidekick, Watson (Law), to help him uncover the truth, before it is too late.With less of a focus on the occult, a stronger plot and a significantly more interesting villain, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows outdoes its predecessor in many respects.
It ups the thrills and the action, continues the fun, and delivers one of the better sequel going experiences this year.Even though the story is a bit wonky in certain respects (more on that in a moment), I feel A Game of Shadows manages to feel a lot more grounded than the original.
Hell, Richie potentially could have shown off a bit of his own style too, instead of just what he cribbed from everyone else.While the film still has its problems, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is an enjoyable ride from start to finish.
The use of slow motion in this film adds to the action.The only possible minus would be a little too much flesh from the weighty Stephen Fry. How Kelly Reilly kept her composure I have no idea, but I would expect it was easy to look away.The best part for me was the verbal war of wits between Moriarty and Holmes especially.Clever writing and acting.
Sadly, Director Guy Ritchie lost his way.As a pairing, Holmes, played by Robert Downey Jnr ,and Watson, by Jude Law, worked first time around.
Stephen fry is excellent as Sherlock's brother, Geraldine James has pitifully little screen time as housekeeper Mrs Hudson yet delights whenever she appears, and Kelly Reilly does well in an underwritten role as Dr Watson's new wife.The plot is a noisy mess, and is largely threadbare.
It could and should have been an deep, intelligent, complex, wit and promising theme for a movie...The humour is forced, shallow and lame, there is a plot but it is not represented in the rank of Sherlock Holmes class....it's all mixed up and I don't like the result.
It could and should have been an deep, intelligent, complex, wit and promising theme for a movie...The humour is forced, shallow and lame, there is a plot but it is not represented in the rank of Sherlock Holmes class....it's all mixed up and I don't like the result.
It could and should have been an deep, intelligent, complex, wit and promising theme for a movie...The humour is forced, shallow and lame, there is a plot but it is not represented in the rank of Sherlock Holmes class....it's all mixed up and I don't like the result.
His investigations point to Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris) as the responsible for the explosions.When Dr. Watson and Mary are attacked in the train while traveling for their honeymoon in Brighton, Sherlock Holmes delivers Mary to the protection of his brother Mycroft Holmes (Stephen Fry).
"Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" is a boring, dull and overrated film by Guy Ritchie.
It is not clever but tiring and way, way, way overdone.The plot is weak at best and confused by constantly noisy effects and over loud music and soundtrack, and a somewhat muddled dialog track.Sherlock Holmes in the old, old movie with Basil Rathbone, engaged the audience with clever deduction, logic, verbal bantering and clever writing and editing.Ritchie decides to make Grand Theft Sherlock, to the horror of fans who love the subtlety of Doyle.
Read the original stories folks, you will be richly rewarded.Within a few months you will have forgotten you saw this mess, and when the third ones comes out, you will have forgotten the messy early ones.Oh,the plot, something about world war and saving the world and war is human condition, yada, yada, yada...I think Ritchie's mom gave him a camera for Christmas and he said, "Look ma, I can take one second shots of everything and people will think it is a movie"..
And then gets kicked in the gut.It's as if Guy Richie took courses from Michael Bay on how to make a typical American movie: Think about the cool special effects first and try to build a story around them after...though, really, the story is not that important.After an astonishingly good first instalment that featured top-notch acting, storytelling AND great special effects (and despite Rachel McAdams), Holmes returns for another caper with Jude Law's Watson in tow.
If you enjoy a good Sherlock Holmes detective film with an engaging, suspenseful plot, then you will be tremendously disappointed!.
It's a nice film inspired on splendid novels about Sherlock Holmes character written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle , including a first-range nasty with malignant aims incarnated by the Napoleon of Crime Doctor Moriarty .
This time , Sherlock Holmes , Robert Downey Jr , his sidekick Dr. Watson , Jude Law , and a gypsy named Simza , Noomi Rapace , with the help of Holmes' older brother Mycroft Holmes , Stephen Fry , all of them join forces to outwit and bring down their fiercest adversary, Professor Moriarty .
Robert Downey Jr.'s interpretation is magnificent , he's a Sherlock for modern times , of course very different to Basil Rathbone considered the best Holmes in the cinema , along with Peter Cushing and Jeremy Brett in television.
I watched Game of shadows with hope as I enjoyed his earlier outing of Sherlock Holmes even though I am a big fan of the books and TV series.
The point is Guy Ritchie had one of the best characters, scripts,etc and didn't need to reduce it to just plain rubbish British crime caper.If the names weren't Sherlock Holmes and Watson, I could have accepted it as a pretty ordinary buddy action movie with some good scenes.This is pathetic!.
The thing about Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes is it's designed more as an action film than a mystery.
A lot of action and of drama.Robert Downey Jr makes a great job with Jude Law.The movie combine very well the action wtih comedy.Irene Adler it's fabulous in his role.She is very beauty.Jared Harris makes a great job in the role of the bad guy .I wait for this movie for 2 years,but the waiting it wasn't in van.Special effects are very good.The plot is very nice write.Guy Ritchie is one of my favourite directors.The music is epic .Hans Zimmer made a great job for this movie.After my opinion Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows it's better than Sherlock Holmes(2009).I hope he will win al least one Academy award.If i make a list of movies from 2011 which you should watch this is for sure on that list..
Waking up early in the morning to catch the first day first show of Sherlock Holmes because you are a serious Guy Ritchie fan and have seen all his movies and loved them,well I had some ideas that maybe it wont be good enough and guess what i was right.I was disappointed with Guy Ritchie and Robert Downey Jr whom people are regarding as an "Amazing Actor" well let me just tell you this Game of Shadows was a complete downer not only because of drifting screenplay and predictable plot but also because of juvenile acting done by our Mr Holmes here.The script was fine but i sincerely felt the previous movie was way better than this one.Only Jude Law and Jared Harris saved the day for me throughout this 129 minutes of what they call a movie which actually was a messing up everything Sir Arthur Conan Doyle worked on..
Many characters in this movie doesn't exist in the original book, a lot of the main story of the film don't exist in the book and Sherlock Holmes don't act like the Sherlock Holmes in the book would have done.
Without the crucial character development that made the stories great, this is simply a superficial action movie with "Sherlock Holmes" as the title..
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows was ultimately the better of the two films, and was honestly a fun and entertaining movie.
You don't go into a Guy Ritchie directed movie expecting something intelligent, but even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would be shocked at how much the mystery of Sherlock Holmes has been reduced in this sequel.
There are more than enough small laughs and set pieces to deliver adequate amusement, but the misuse of Moriarty becomes the film's biggest disappointment – in addition to yet another muddled and damn near incoherent retelling of another Sherlock Holmes movie.
For all of the flashy set pieces and costumes A Game of Shadows shows off, it can't hide the emptiness that cursed the first film.In his latest adventure, Holmes (Downey Jr.) believes that a series of attacks throughout Europe are linked to scholar and equally brilliant Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris), who has someone Holmes knows well killed to get what he wants.
To do this, they need the help of gypsy Simza Heron (Noomi Rapace), whose brother could be involved in Moriarty's plot to assassinate a powerful political figure and start war in a time of peace.It pretty much comes down to this as to whether you'll like A Game of Shadows.
But I do give the sequel one good thing: the action is better staged and better crafted even with all the slow motion techniques Guy Ritchie picked up from Zack Snyder.The meaty parts of the film of course involve explosions, and A Game of Shadows is never short of them.
As cunning and brilliant as he his, Moriarty fails to find a voice here despite Jared Harris' excellent work in a devious role, one that unfortunately is undermined by the general lack of motivation he is given in A Game of Shadows.That comes with the fault of the script, which acts as nothing more than a series of set pieces disguised as puzzles to keep us on our feet.
Robert Downey Jr. gives the movie so much and I honestly couldn't imaging any other actor playing the role of Holmes so great, fun and charismatically as he does.Definitely an inferior sequel but still fun, good and entertaining enough all!7/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
More importantly, it never seems like a Sherlock Holmes movie.From the start (actually, before the start) we know who our nemesis is: Professor James Moriarty.
But I realized that the story (or stories) here merely form a kind of scarecrow on which director Ritchie could hang set-piece action sequences, camera tricks and CGI wizardry, while the actors mugged like children in a bad school play about someone or other they called "Sherlock Holmes," for no other reason than they had heard the name while running around a TV set with an old movie playing on it.Childishly campy, visually ugly (that mind-numbing slo-mo - stop it!), badly written, and horribly over-acted; of course it made millions.
Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr) and Dr. Watson (Jude Law) again battle wits with arch enemy Professor James Moriarty.
I feel many of us would have liked Robert Downey Jr to become another Action Hero (yes, other than Iron Man) with another name and not Sherlock Holmes.
Unfortunately this movie sells out to an American "Hollywood" audience, and as a result alienates fans of the Sherlock Holmes genre.Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law are very entertaining, however Rachel McAdams is painful and brings little to the movie other than the usual fluttering of her eye lashes and cliché promiscuity.Guy Ritchie seems to be a one trick pony.
But if you took it as a movie about characters that just happen to have names like Holmes and Watson but are otherwise their own thing, it was pretty decent.That cannot, alas, be said for the sequel, which is just plain dull.
I, as a fan of Sherlock Holmes and of the portrayals given by Basil Rathbone and Jeremy Brett, personally loved the first Sherlock Holmes, it was fun, stylish and clever, with impeccably matched leads and a good villain, even with moments of annoying slow-motion, things getting convoluted and draggy in the second hour and Rachel McAdams.Although the trailers suggested otherwise, I very much enjoyed this sequel.
Sherlock Holmes a game of shadows...i have been waiting for seeing this movie for a long time, n at last i got the chance.
the first movie i found boring in some stages but overall that was not so bad.in fact that movie was good enough to make me look forward to the sequel..Robert Downey Jr. has been developed as Sherlock Holmes,and his chemistry with Jude law is really good to watch and this time they are working together to solve a case which is one of the biggest case Sherlock has ever had.They are now after professor James Moriarty.
Jared Harris as professor Moriarty played his character in a nice way and convinced me as a good opponent of Holmes.Rachel McAdam's role as Irene Adler is reduced in this movie.
and he has a lot of chances to make this film great but he failed.what so ever, Sherlock Holmes a game of shadow is an entertaining movie and it has a exiting climax n also has a nice ending?.
Sherlock Holmes is back; this time he is pit into a game of shadows against Professor Moriarty, admirably underplayed by Jared Harris.
That should be seen for the die-hard fans of the great English detective, but for anyone looking for entertainment, which is the real purpose of this film, Sherlock Holmes 2 is one to watch..
He has given us a fresh look into Sherlock Holmes that we have read about, which I think keeps the stories and ideas of Holmes alive.Along with his excellent fresh ideas and overall movie making, Robert Downey Jr., and Jude Law give great performances once again.
They have the BEST chemistry I have seen between a Holmes and Watson character, which is one reason why this movie is so great.Also, I think that the villain, Prof.
Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law reprise their roles as the resourceful Sherlock and his doctor friend and their gimmicky misadventures ensue.The plot this time around concerns the evil Professor Moriarty ( a formidable Jared Harris ) who wants to profit from the war any illegal way he can.
Guy Ritchie has taken a last chapter from Sherlock Holmes series to create a film where he would meet his arch rival , Professor James Moriarty.
Coming to the performances, could you ever think of anyone apart from Robert Downey Jr who can play the character of Sherlock Holmes so effectively.
Either way, "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" is entertaining and fun to watch.
From the performance, Robert Downey Jr. has did it again with his character as Sherlock Holmes, even Dr. John Watson's performance by Jude Law really got a lot of improvement too..
The first film of this series was for me of average quality, the kind of movie that felt like a generic Hollywood action adventure movie labelled as Sherlock Holmes.
The film can actually think itself pretty smart at times especially with the thought process Holmes goes to when just about to fight, of course if you see the first movie you are used to it but it still feels a little gimmicky how it is done and played out afterwards.So overall Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is one movie that is good and I think an improvement over the first one that felt so mediocre.
"Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" is not as good as the first film in the series, but it does benefit from an interesting villain.
Even Better than the First Movie; Fans Should Love It. I really enjoyed Guy Ritchie's first SHERLOCK HOLMES.
The scope on this one is about as large as a good Holmes movie can get without going too over-the-top, and they've already brought out the detectives most cunning enemy: Moriarty.If you want to make a blockbuster icon out of Sherlock Holmes, you can't do better than Robert Downey Jr. He continues to be great in the role, even if he does come off as a little cartoonish this time around. |
tt0103253 | Whore | Liz (Russell) is a Los Angeles prostitute the audience first sees attempting to get a customer on a busy downtown street near a tunnel. She addresses the audience directly on her life and problems throughout the film. When a van stops by, she gives it the brush off, recalling the last time she serviced a man in a van: it turned out there were several other men in the van, who gang-raped her and left her for dead. A passer-by (Jack Nance) helps her to the hospital, and even pays her bill there. She sends him a thank you note.
Liz isn't merely attempting to get a customer, however: she is attempting to escape her pimp, Blake (Benjamin Mouton). Blake is a well-dressed, businesslike and extremely controlling man who catches up with her at a convenience store. He demands money, and Liz has no choice but to agree though she gives him the finger as he leaves.
As Liz stops off at a strip club for a drink, she explains how she ended up as she did: she was a small town girl, who married a violent drunk named Charlie (Frank Smith). Though they have a child together, she can no longer take it and leaves him, taking her son with her, as he's sleeping it off. She takes a job on the graveyard shift at a diner, and when a customer offers her more money to have sex with him, she decides, given her rather low pay, to take it. She does this independently for a time until she meets Blake, who takes her to LA. Though Blake does do some things for her (including getting her tattooed), he is ultimately as cruel as her husband, so she decides to escape from him.
A local homeless person/street performer named Rasta (Antonio Fargas) decides to treat Liz to a movie. Though Rasta is a bit scary (his act involves walking on broken glass), Liz agrees. At this point the scenes of Liz and Rasta at the movie are intercut with Blake explaining his life to the audience, giving the impression that Liz and Rasta are watching Blake's soliloquy.
After the movie, Liz talks to the audience about her son, whom she clearly loves, though he's now in foster care. She finally gets a customer and services him. He has a heart attack, and Liz panics, trying to give him mouth to mouth resuscitation, without success. Blake happens along then. He takes Liz's money and tries to rob the dead customer. When Liz tries to stop him, Blake tries to strangle Liz and threatens her son. Rasta comes to the rescue, killing Blake. A grateful Liz gives her thanks and walks away. | violence | train | imdb | The Weird and Wild World of Ken Russell: An interesting retort to "Pretty Woman"..
Whore (1991) was Ken Russell's take upon the life of a prostitute.
Theresa Russell is excellent as the "whore" who gives us an insider's view of the world of low-class prostitution.
Whilst movies like "Pretty Woman" show us the bright side of prostitution, "Whore" shows us it's true dark self.I found this movie to be very interesting.
Personally, I love everything about it, from Teresa Russell's sarcastic, bombastic, career-wrecking performance to the simple joy of seeing Antonio Fargas on screen again, "Whore" is a great, intelligent film worth repeated viewings.
The real tragedy is that this will be Ken Russell's last great film.
Ken Russell's "Whore" begins with an amusing shot of cars driving through a tunnel (R-rated Freudianism?) coupled with a Jamaican rap on the soundtrack about doing the "boom boom" with girls.
Russell, who directed the film and co-adapted the screenplay from David Hines' play, is highly adept at quirky bits of business--blending hammy, outré comedy with blunt-force dramatics--but with "Whore", his mix of in-your-face, sexually-comedic bits and pieces are not always compatible bedmates next to the violence or the introspective moments.
Theresa Russell plays Liz, a streetwise hooker full of bravado; often addressing the camera directly, Theresa speaks with an odd swagger in her voice (as if she's channeling someone standing beside her).
Striking amazing poses--like Lolita all grown up--Theresa Russell has some choice moments (usually when she's not speaking, as with a silent come-on to a guy who turns out to be gay), but she is not a vulgar, cartoony actress and is too refined to be slutty.
There are well-wrought sequences (such as when Russell's friendship with a possible lesbian is interrupted by a vicious pimp, an incredible moment done without principle dialogue), but the film isn't very sexy.
Those looking for a raucous good time will be disappointed (can you imagine how that inelegant title looked on the movie theater marquees?), and those hoping for a serious take on the prostitution business probably won't stick around past the first hour.
The prostitute Liz (Theresa Russell) works on the streets of Los Angeles.
The hot Theresa Russell is a perfect choice for the role of Liz, talking to the camera to explain her life and feelings and analyzing the type of men that is client of a whore.
The comments on this film are pretty amusing, I just hope Mr. Russell has seen a few of them, as it would probably tickle him to-no-end.
Ask the King County sheriff's Department and the Seattle Police, they allowed the Green River killer to run-riot for 20+ years.I consider this a pretty pure film for Ken Russell, and a pretty compassionate statement FOR the victims of prostitution.
It looks pretty slick cinematography-wise, and the acting by Theresa Russell (no-relation to the writer/director) is astonishing.
She's also incredibly powerful in projecting her sexuality as an actor, which is pretty rare.Only Kathleen Turner stands as her equal.So, if you enjoyed "Crimes of Passion" nearly as much as I did (a masterpiece), this will be a wonderful companion-film for you, dear viewers.
The only problem I basically had with this film, was that Ms. Russell's character was much too glamorous to be a *street whore*.
That was the most un-authentic part of this film, noticing how perfect she looked.From viewing documentaries depicting real life prostitutes (HBO's series about hookers in the Bronx, those women were rough....missing teeth, barely literate etc) and other movies depicting the horrors of prostitution, we all know they usually don't look as good as Ms. Russell does in this film....unless they are call girls.
Call girls aren't as abused as street hookers, they usually have a decent and comfortable place to be with their clients.Most street whores have drug problems, even if they don't, that rough 'street life' certainly takes a toll on ones looks.
It's not for everyone but I found it to be a good character study with humor, sex, and all the other elements of fun sleaze that make a Ken Russell film so much raunchy fun.
Russell (Theresa, that is), directs monologues at the camera in between interaction with various figures in her life.
A prostitute named Liz (Theresa Russell) relates her life and times to the viewer.
Rasta (Antonio Fargas) pops up from time to time to inexplicably help her.This was made in response to "Pretty Woman" (which actually made prostitution look glamorous).
Director Ken Russell had trouble getting funding for this--no actress would take the role and the title alone scared away investors.
Mouton is also good as her slimy pimp and it's always good to see Fargas in anything (although his character makes no sense).The screenplay is great--it doesn't shy away from any of the realities of prostitution and is quite graphic.
Also there are a few cute references to earlier Russell films here--one movie theatre is playing "Lair of the White Worm" and another is playing a porno film starring China Blue (the character Kathleen Turner played in his "Crimes of Passion").I saw this originally in 1991 in a theatre in it's NC-17 version.
WHORE (Ken Russell, 1991) **1/2.
Although he continued to work profusely in the medium which gave him his start, this was the last proper theatrical film for Ken Russell until 2002's semi-amateurish THE FALL OF THE LOUSE OF USHER (which, perhaps unsurprisingly, did become his feature-length swan song for the silver screen); given its theatrical origins as a British play called "Bondage" – written by a former taxi driver and basing it on stories he was told by his own streetwalking customers!
– it is not as visually stylized as the movies the director is most renowned – or vilified – for but he still opens it out somewhat by shooting it on location in Los Angeles Appropriately enough, it stars American actress Theresa Russell (no relation to the director) who, at the time of shooting, was married to Ken's chief rival for the title of the most visionary British film-maker of his era, Nicolas Roeg who, like Ken, had a penchant for turning pop idols into tentative and temporary film stars!The seedy world of pimps, prostitutes and "tricks" is right up Ken's alley and one he had already visited more effectively 7 years previously in one of his most notorious films, CRIMES OF PASSION; tellingly, this more realistic treatment went by almost unnoticed.
Among the episodes in her past life that are depicted is a marriage to a boozing hunk (hilariously, he comes home one day, when she is almost at the end of her pregnancy and, despite her having diligently prepared his meal, he proceeds to puke into his salad bowl!); earlier on, the first 'client' she meets is a puking tramp lying on the pavement and then a colored, perennially barefooted street-performing masochist (played by Antonio Fargas from TV's STARSKY AND HUTCH) who becomes a recurring presence throughout the film
as does an Indian bike-rider who insists Theresa foregoes the 'rubber' if she agrees to take him on as a customer (which, naturally, doom his prospects)!
After much abuse suffered from plying her trade on the streets – getting gangbanged in a van and thanklessly dumped on the pavement, after which she is cared for by a kindly Jack Nance – she is 'tricked' {sic} (through the staging of a rescue from a would-be attempted rape inside a car) into employing a seemingly classy but sadistic thug as her pimp (Benjamin Mouton); he takes her out to an elegant dinner (served by an uncredited – and sarcastic – Ken Russell himself!) but, obviously, she is no 'fair lady' and proceeds to make an ass of him in front of the other diners.
Like Kathleen Turner's character in CRIMES OF PASSION before her (incidentally, as an in-joke, a porn movie on the marquee is called "China Blue" – which had actually been the title under which that film was released in Italy!), "Liz" is also into servicing old men: one is a regular inside an old people's home – with a bunch of nearby resting residents as gleeful 'witnesses'; the other dies on the 'job' – at which point the pimp reappears...but so does Fargas who swiftly saves the day by slitting the latter's throat!For the record, the most notable films to revolve exclusively around the milieu of prostitutes are most of Kenji Mizoguchi's films featuring downtrodden geishas, Federico Fellini's NIGHTS OF CABIRIA (1957), Jean-Luc Godard's VIVRE SA VIE (1962) and Luis Bunuel's BELLE DE JOUR (1967); this is not to say that WHORE in any way ever approaches their level of artistry but, one thing it certainly has that they do not is an amusingly crude and sexist Ska theme tune called "Doing The Bang" sung over the opening and closing credits by an anonymous band called Fascinating Force!
"Whore" is a fantastic movie by Ken Russell (dir.
The film is shot in a pseudo-documentary style, in which we find ourselves taking on the perspective of a film crew that is following around a prostitute on the lamb (Theresa Russell).
It shows how life as a whore can be tough and that you have to be careful about who you choose as your friends in "the oldest profession on earth." This is another winner by Ken Russell that cant be missed by any of his fans.
The device of having Theresa Russell talking directly to the camera (and, consequently, to us) was perhaps intended to give a documentary feel to the whole production, but it has the opposite effect: it never lets you forget that "it's only a movie".
Although I disliked this movie and thought parts of it could have been done better it sure is alot more realistic then Pretty Woman although most people don't even know of its existance..
This is an excellent little film from the weirdo English director Ken Russell.
I read in several articles and interviews that "Whore" was primarily intended as a harsh and confronting response to the Julia Roberts comedy "Pretty Woman"; which depicts prostitution as a carefree and happy happy joy joy profession.
Of course everybody already knows that the job of a prostitute includes more than just sleeping with Richard Gere, but Russell nonetheless insisted on dedicating a full movie based on this reality lesson.
Theresa Russell is excellent as Liz and, since she speaks most of her monologues straight into a camera, the viewer becomes irreversibly involved in her daily routines of abuse, humiliation, danger, fear, indescribably odd fetishes and general bullying.
Whilst on the constant lookout for her relentless pimp, Liz lectures about what she does and doesn't tolerate from customers, tells lovely anecdotes about her wackiest clients (like an elderly man who only gets off when she hits him with his own cane!) and openly mentions the rookie mistakes that gradually turned her into the nihilistic and cynic woman she is now.
Strangely enough but perhaps typical for Ken Russell our director interlards the most involving moments of sincere human tenderness with revolting footage of the pimp also facing the camera and proudly talking about his spirit of enterprise and generally discriminating opinion on women.
And perhaps the biggest problem of the film might be that the subject matter actually TOO realistic to be a genuine Russell success formula.
The everyday life of a prostitute simply doesn't lend itself to a lot of creative and artsy expanding, and for Russell this is definitely a shortcoming.
This is a very good film about a Los Angeles street prostitute.
It has sex scenes and lots of dark humour.Theresa Russell gives a brilliant performance as the protagonist Liz - she often talks to the camera inbetween looking for clients.It's a lot better than Pretty Woman..
Uneducated prostitute Liz (Theresa Russell) works the L.A. streets.
Director Ken Russell considers this his anti-'Pretty Woman'.
Theresa Russell actually seems to flush away the remnants of a none too- inspiring career as the minutes tick by during this sad excuse for a film.
Theresa Russell, playing the eponymous streetwalker in a nameless American city, bares all for the camera, including her limitations as an actress.
Most of the near-plot less film is a confessional monologue, with Russell looking straight into the camera and sharing her trade secrets, but she hasn't the depth of talent to carry what amounts to a one-woman show, giving a flat performance to complement the empty, inadequate script.From all the artificial banter it shouldn't be surprising to learn that the film was adapted from a stage play, the name of which ('Bondage') is even more blunt and specific than the (original) title of the screen version.
It might have been director Ken Russell's answer to the trite platitudes of 'Pretty Woman', but all the raw squalor and explicit language is too clinical to provide any real shock value.
A more realistic take on the life of a streetwalker after the glamorising of Pretty Woman is an interesting idea.
It's risky to hang a whole film on the performance of one actor, and in this case Russell over-acts so much, almost constantly, that it comes across as a poorly executed joke.
Pretty much trash, with Ken Russell once again making a film that doesn't seem to belong to any particular genre.
However, this particular Russell film is quite watchable and has some good scenes.
Whereas in most of Russell's (early) films the actors spend 90% of their time flailing about with their arms and doing head-stands, and just generally being frantic, manic, and silly, there is none of that here - although Theresa Russell is rather animated throughout; but she acts like this to heighten the comedic effect, not to be annoying.
London cab drivers are good witnesses to street life and when one cabby (David Hines) got talking to one prostitute (late at night) he decided to write her story down and re-create it as a play called "Bondage." I never saw it myself - but I am told the reviews were mixed.The story of a sad life is told through the words and actions of one of the great "almost" actresses of her time: Theresa Russell.
Good for people that live in a Pretty Woman/Disneyland world (this movie is Ken Russell's answer to the Julia Roberts movie!), but they won't be watching it.People that make these types of films are on a sleaze holiday.
Ken Russell's films are interesting even when they fail, except perhaps for this misconceived production, made in reaction to the sugary romanticism of "Pretty Woman".
Russell wants to show the world of urban prostitution without rose-colored glasses, and so fills his film with every kind of unpleasant person and situation imaginable.But too much in this film works against its attempted realism.
Based on a play, the film employs lots of monologues spoken directly to the camera.
Whore kind of glamorizes prostitution, but with some scenes, we see the highs, but with others we see the lows.
Theresa addresses us frequently throughout the film, amongst her scenes, even telling us about a chicken spot that's not so good.
Set really over the course of a day and night, the film has her nasty pimp (Benjamin Moulton, a great underrated actor) chasing her down.
I really liked Russel's performance, who's star double which happens to be Kathleen Turner, reminded me a lot of the Turner prostitute role in Crimes Of Passion, where the tone and speed of the voice are much the same.
Whore is not what I call good, but it's interesting, where the movie really shows a funny if farcical (and I use that word heavily) side to the oldest living profession..
Russells' Last Good Film!.
Ken Russell who made major films like WOMEN IN LOVE and THE DEVILS apparently burnt out by the time he got to TOMMY (bad ghoulash!!!), except for this sly, trembling, subtle and street piece with Theresa Russell (with able support from Jack Nance briefly) that bombed critically and ..duh..financially in the early 90's.Totally under-rated and stylistic in a Bunuel sort of way, this walk down the boulevard..partly because of the casting of Ms. Russell (Nicholas Roeg's wife; still I believe), makes this almost realistic in David Lynch way without a million characters.She talks to the audience (ala ALFIE) style, bad things happen, lonely Roy Orbison-type streets, and a crescendo that is totally unexpected.
Rubbish.The movie opens with a prostitute, remarkable pretty for a street hooker, standing by the roadway with lots of 'honks,' looking for customers.
Theresa Russell portrays Liz as bluntly honest, no-nonsense about her job and what comes with the territory of being a hooker.
Blake is such a mean, cold-blooded bastard he threatens to hook Liz's son when he comes of age.The film is set up as a means for a hooker to speak candidly about what it's like being a "whore." We see Liz working those who stop off to check her out and even see one or two possible clients getting a chance at a "good time." One client gets so worked up his heart stops!
I will agree with many that Ken Russell's film is a mixed bag often drifting from comedy into tragedy, but I myself just don't see how a woman like this' story could be told any other way..
This movie revolves around a prostitute named "Liz" (Theresa Russell) who essentially recounts her life to the audience in a series of flashbacks all leading up to her present situation involving her extremely angry pimp by the name of "Blake" (Benjamin Mouton).
What this film does offer, however, is a sizable number of scenes focusing on Theresa Russell using foul language--in an annoying Bronx accent--at every turn.
So much so that, while Theresa Russell is almost always a turn-on in most of her films, she managed to look quite bad in this particular movie. |
tt1506999 | Haywire | Former Marine Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) goes to a diner in Upstate New York to meet Aaron (Channing Tatum). He tells her to get in his car, but she refuses and they fight. He pulls out a gun, but she disarms and pistol-whips him. Scott (Michael Angarano), a customer in the diner, intervenes and Mallory demands his car keys and that he get in the car. As they flee, she explains who she is and what has happened to her. The flashback sequences are intermixed with scenes of their flight.
Mallory tells Scott that she and Aaron work for a company that handles "operations". One week before, the firm's director (and Mallory's ex-boyfriend) Kenneth (Ewan McGregor) had attended a meeting in Washington, D.C. arranged by government agent Coblenz (Michael Douglas). Kenneth's firm was hired to rescue Jiang (Anthony Brandon Wong), who was allegedly being held hostage in an apartment in Barcelona. Also present at the meeting was Coblenz's Spanish contact, Rodrigo (Antonio Banderas).
Mallory and her team, which includes Aaron, travel to Barcelona and, despite difficulties, succeed in rescuing Jiang and delivering him to Rodrigo.
Back in the United States, Mallory is approached by Kenneth, who insists she undertake what he describes as an easy assignment: to pose as the wife of British MI6 agent Paul (Michael Fassbender) during a mission in Dublin. Mallory agrees and accompanies Paul to a party at Russborough House, where they meet with his contact, Studer (Mathieu Kassovitz). Paul meets with Studer again as Mallory watches from afar. She sees Paul go into a barn and after he leaves, she enters it to find Jiang dead, clutching in his hand a brooch which Kenneth had insisted she wear as a recognition signal for her initial contact with Paul. Mallory realizes she has been set up.
On returning to their room at the Shelbourne Hotel, Paul attacks Mallory and they have a brutal fight; Mallory gets the upper hand and suffocates him near to death with a choke hold, then shoots him point blank in the face. She finds a missed call on Paul's phone and returns it. Kenneth answers and asks if Mallory has been taken care of, before realising who is on the other end. As Mallory leaves the hotel, she evades Kenneth's agents, who are tailing her. Heavily armed members of the Garda Emergency Response Unit (ERU) appear and try to arrest her. She escapes after a chase and sneaks onto a ferry to England.
Mallory calls Rodrigo and asks him whether it was he or Kenneth who set her up. Rodrigo calls Coblenz, who then calls Mallory. Coblenz tells Mallory that he has had suspicions about Kenneth for some time. Coblenz then contacts Kenneth and tells him to inform Mallory's father, John Kane (Bill Paxton), of her purported crimes.
Meanwhile, Mallory enters the United States and reaches the diner, expecting to meet Kenneth. Now on the road, Scott and Mallory are captured by the police. Both are taken into custody but the police are ambushed by Kenneth's men. Mallory manages to kill one of them and flees with Scott in one of the police cars. She releases Scott and leaves to meet with her father.
Mallory reaches her father's house in New Mexico before Kenneth, Aaron and two other men arrive to interrogate John about his daughter's whereabouts. Aaron receives a photograph on his phone of Jiang lying dead, and it dawns on him that Mallory might have been set up. He tries to press Kenneth for the truth, but Kenneth shoots him and escapes, as Mallory takes out Kenneth's other men. Aaron apologizes to Mallory as he dies in her arms.
The following day, Mallory meets with Coblenz, who reveals that he told Kenneth to contact Mallory's father, expecting that Kenneth would go to her father's house and that she would kill him there. Coblenz also gives her Kenneth's present location. Before they part, he offers her a government job, but she says she will respond after she has found Kenneth.
In Mexico, Mallory confronts Kenneth on a beach and they fight. Kenneth's foot becomes jammed between rocks. Unable to escape, he reveals that Jiang was a journalist who was being protected in a safe house after having exposed Studer's crimes. Knowing that Mallory planned to leave his firm, Kenneth arranged for her to kidnap Jiang and deliver him to Rodrigo, who delivered him to Studer, who killed him. Kenneth then framed Mallory, planning to cut all ties that could lead to him, and convinced Paul that Mallory was a double agent whom he should kill. Mallory leaves Kenneth to drown in the incoming tide.
A few days later, Mallory locates Rodrigo, who is on vacation in Majorca. The film ends as she confronts him, presumably intending to eliminate him as the last remaining link in the conspiracy against her. | revenge, action, murder, violence, flashback | train | wikipedia | Haywire is directed by Steven Soderbergh and features an all star cast that includes Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas, Channing Tatum and Michael Fassbender.However the main star is MMA fighter Gina Carano as Mallory Kane who works in black ops and is hired to pose as he wife of a British agent and ends up being a target for elimination herself.
Carano has to unravel who is trying to set her up.The film is shot with little dialogue and a moody setting, many of the known cast has small roles and its a 'unHollywood thriller' although Carano does get to kick ass as well as getting chased mainly in the streets or rooftops of Dublin.Fassbender and Carano's scenes standout especially their combat sequences.
People told me to avoid "Haywire" but I found it reasonably entertaining.First off, I was amazed by the number of likable actors that are in the movie - Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas and Bill Paxton (where has he been hiding?) all star in co-roles.
It's got a simple, but hugely unoriginal plot - Special Ops agent gets doubled-crossed (yawn) and proceeds to exact her revenge on those who wronged her, yeah, it sounds very much like the standard plot for your average Steven Seagal straight-to-DVD actioner - not a film directed by Steven Soderbergh!
I suspect that Soderbergh is not overly familiar with this particular genre, otherwise he might have avoided the clichéd script like the plague...The direction for this piece is restrained almost to the point of inertia - any energy generated within the action scenes comes sorely from the mixed-martial artistry of Ms. Carano, it almost feels as if Mr. Soderbergh is embarrassed by the notion of directing an action thriller.Soderbergh does his usual thing of peppering his films with stars and/or solid character actors, but despite the presence of the likes of Ewan MacGregor, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, etc, they are underused in what are essentially expanded cameos - only MacGregor gets to shine a little, but his character is underwritten and lacks any credible motivation for his actions.Gina Carano acquits herself quite well, especially so given the fact that she is carrying the movie on her inexperienced shoulders - that and the cold, hard reality that her character is basically a Jason Bourne clone, albeit with female genitalia...The film also suffers from the fact that it doesn't have a climax, it just simply stops.The restrained approach Soderbergh adopted for this film is it's undoing - short, sporadic bursts of action in an uninspired and leisurely-paced script damage Haywire badly, if Steven Soderbergh had bothered to have injected a bit more zest and flair into his direction, the film might have been redeemed somewhat and not turned into the lifeless, miserable clone that it is.PG..
It's not quite recommendable to everyone unless you like art films, Soderbergh's directing style, or Gina Carano.
No female action star can fight like Gina Carano.
And the fact that no sound effect or background score is used during the fight scenes make the sequences feel more real and effective.The editing is tight, the camera-work is beautiful, the background score is minimal, and the story doesn't try too hard to be complex, which makes the movie an exhilarating ride..
And that way Soderbergh proved to be one of the top directors of his time, but that is also his main problem because people usually overrate his movies a lot.He made a huge campaign about Haywire, stating that his decision to make this action movie is for the fact that great action movies wasn't being produced anymore.
Gina Carano's expertise really dismiss stunts and the results are intense and realistic scenes.Being an MMA fighter, Gina Carano delivers a fair performance, but of course that she is better fighting than acting.The movie gives what it promises and Soderbergh tries to keep the actions scenes focused entirely on the fighting performances and chasing sequences never using soundtracks or gun shots more than the necessary to not overshadow all the technical attention he so wanted to experience.
And the reason I give that advice is that you will have the opportunity to experience Soderberg again but I am not sure I can say the same for Carano.This is of course a change of pace for Soderberg who is actually becoming known for his ability shape-shift between genres and do a pretty good job at each one he chooses.This is an average spy thriller lifted to above-average by an A-List cast backed by Gina Carano in the action scenes.Carano is the actual reason I wanted to review the film.
According to what I read (or should I say waded through), Steven Soderbergh saw Gina Carano fight (she is an expert in martial arts) and wanted to build a film around her.Haywire isn't your typical Soderbergh film.
And she has a great figure.The film also stars Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, and Ewan McGregor, so the inexperienced Carano was surrounded by good people who didn't have much to do.This isn't an action film up to the standards of a Bourne film, due to Soderbergh not doing much in the way of directing.
With Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum and Michael Fassbender in supporting roles, "Haywire" certainly has a large part of the equation covered in order to work, but it falls decidedly in the "anywhere in between" category.MMA fighter Gina Carano is the foundation around which "Haywire" attaches its many Oscar- caliber ornaments.
Despite some really wooden line delivery in a number of scenes, she's got action star chops, and her character, contracted black ops agent and ex-marine Mallory Kane, isn't treated differently for being female."Haywire" isn't quite by-the-numbers as far as modern post-Bourne special agent action- thrillers go (nothing by Soderbergh ever is), but it places all its novelty in Carano's hands.
She's an entertaining watch, but she's not going to take generic material and make it awesome — no one's that talented.Lem Dobbs' screenplay isn't really a problem, as plenty of films in the genre have been made out of worse, but neither he nor Soderbergh make an argument for why you should watch "Haywire" instead of another movie (or even another viewing of any "Bourne" film) other than to see all the stars that have been collected to play minor characters."Haywire" follows a classic betrayed agent looking for revenge premise.
She breaks his arm and escapes in the car of a random person at the diner (Michael Angarano) and tells him the whole story of her betrayal as she flees.Soderbergh downright refuses to follow some of the most fundamental conventions of the action genre in this film, which keeps "Haywire" fresh but ultimately renders it somewhat stagnant.
With a short run time, "Haywire" never gets too boring, but it does at times feel flat.The technique Soderbergh uses that stands out the most involves flipping the traditional use of scoring in an action film.
Whereas most movies use silence to build suspense and then use music to underscore the intensity of an action sequence, Soderbergh does the opposite: he enlists David Holmes (of the "Ocean's" films) to create synthetic-sounding '70s action music leading up to action confrontations and then cuts the sound completely to make the fighting feel more raw and natural.
Gina Carano and her fighting skills have been chosen for the leading role, alongside an interesting supporting cast such as Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Bill Paxton and Michael Fassbender.
And it is boasting a better cast than Cowboys and Aliens - Haywire is arguably the best piece of filmmaking in the action genre in recent memory.This could obviously be expected by Steven Soderbergh, still one of America's most consistent directors.
They empower the story of a gutsy, fearless, ass-kicking woman determined to avenge herself even with a loss of trust for anyone willing to take her side after the double-crossing and the small amount of genuine help.The plot itself is told in a disjointed way which is honestly a criticism to be made of the film because I believe that it will leave several people scratching their heads for some time during their viewing experience.
A great start to the new year.Watch it if: you like new takes on genres; willing to view something with a brain (especially if you just saw something stupid like New Years Eve recently); are a fan of Steven Soderbergh and his smart direction; looking to begin your 2012 cinema experience with something good.
Exceptional cinematography and pacing; a nice twisty back-stabbing plot in exotic locales (parkour on the rooftops of a soggy Dublin!); and some heart-stopping fight sequences and stunts.There are - as others have commented - some well-known actors in this flick turning in highly enjoyable performances, but the unknown Gina Carano is actually rather excellent too.
Check her bio, and you will understand why.I thought the big fight scene between her and the always excellent Michael Fassbender was one of the best I've seen since John Cusack and Benny "the Jet" Urquidez kicked the crap out of each other in Grosse Pointe Blank.There's a decent plot going on in the background, but you have to pay attention and listen to the dialogue.
The dialogue is truly quite painful to hear made only worse by the feeble mumbling Channing Tatum (who, btw I normally truly enjoy as an entertainer in titles such as: Step Up, She's the Man, etc., but let's be honest- he shouldn't be allowed to have more than 4 words per line.) and the "Britney Spears"-quality delivery of Gina Carano (who genuinely does a fantastic job in terms of stunts and choreography, but her quasi-expressionless face (while pretty) and vacant eyes have none of the stage presence of a Matt Damon).
Missing frames and shaking cameras don't make for great fight scenes.This movie just had excellent fight scenes that depended on the knowledge and abilities of an great, real life fighter and man does it show.It is puzzling that this only has a 6.1 because there is also a cerebral element to this film, you have to watch closely to know what is going on.Maybe there is why it is rated so low, most out there like quick action, but poor fight scenes and dumbed down fluff.This is a solid 7 of 10 and I'm looking forward to the next movie from Miss Carano..
Plot line: what you'd expect from an action-thriller - pleasantly confusing, double crossing, main character (played by Gina Carrano) has to fight for her survivalActing: Absolutely fine in my opinion, I found that Carrano was charming, convincing and amusingCinematography: Very cool, slightly different style to other action films, allowed you to see all the details necessary to really draw you in, slightly artier than other action films, none of that annoying trend for shaking the camera around so much you can't even see who is fighting whoAction: BLOODY BRILLIANT, Carrano being big in the world of UFC obviously helped, all of the fighting was realistic, clever, beautifully choreographed but still felt raw and gritty.
Haywire is not the most remarkable of films, working well within the standard genre framework, but manages to be entertaining none the less.Haywire focuses on Mallory Kane (Gina Carano), an operative with a private firm that is often contracted to handle jobs that the U.S. government doesn't want to get its hands dirty with.
'HAYWIRE': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five) Director Steven Soderbergh teamed with writer Lem Dobbs to make this B action film specifically to showcase star Gina Carano's talents.
After a mission in Barcelona, the efficient agent Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) is betrayed and chased by agents."Haywire" is a kind of "Full Frontal" of spy movies: a great cast in magnificent locations wasted in mediocre story, screenplay and direction.
Yes, the acting isn't stellar and the basic scenario has been done many times before, but come on people, you need to take it on its own terms and in terms of the basic "agent out in the cold" action/thriller with the usual shady dealings/betrayals in high places, it acquits itself very well.I'm generally pretty critical - "Hanna" for instance, a similar tale but with a young girl rather than a woman, was preposterous from start to finish.There will probably never be a truly realistic action film.
But there is a series of characters, actresses and films/TV shows that are offering females who have no problem taking down their male opponents.Haywire showed the best action sequences I've seen for some time and Gina Carano is so tough I almost felt sorry for the guys she was fighting because I knew they didn't stand a chance.
To say that this movie sucked would be an insult to movies that suck.After watching the trailer and seeing some of the big named stars in this movie(Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Michael Fassbender, and Ewan McGregor) I became excited with the idea of a great action film with the possibility of many sequels.
The story is nothing special, but for anybody who might get confused, it all gets explained right near the end.Soderbergh made sure to surround Gina with excellent co-stars who could help to do some of the heavy lifting: Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, Bill Paxton, Michael Fassbender, Mathieu Kassovitz.
The director's use of location shots and more realistic(ish) action may make the movie a little slow for those expecting break neck action start to finish.Personally I felt the acting was good enough for the type of movie and Gina isn't any worse than the major male action stars..
The action here is not over the top like in Mission Impossible, but more like The Bourne Movies, the Gina Carano character half the time almost felt like a female Jason Bourne.The story has been too many times, so I won't some it up.
Elaborate fight scenes, a retired MMA fighter and a hell of a lot of shootings can only describe one film, Haywire (Dir. Steven Soderbergh, 2012).
However, Steven Soderbergh always tries to use new talent, as much as old, and Haywire sees Gina Carano in her first major acting role since retiring from MMA.One aspect of the film that will stand out to everyone who goes to see it are the fight sequences.
The film isn't anything like what its synopsis had promised, being silent for the most parts and having little spoken segments, relying on plenty of mood and music generated, which reminded me of Drive, but without the coolness and chic since it's very much grounded in reality with no frills and no flamboyance.And by that I mean no exaggeration in its fight action sequences, where sound effects usually get amplified and for some cinema, elevated to becoming a key component to camouflage the lack of hard hitting impact, which in real life hardly ever happens anyway unless someone possesses some out of this world bionics, or ability to whistle one's punches when punching through to another body.
Curiously it's how the director had decided to treat the entire material, not just allowing the fights to take centrestage, but to weave a tale of curious jet setting espionage around it, dealing with shady characters with even shadier intents, and assemble a wealth of acting talent and action knuckle-men in its testosterone filled ensemble cast - check this out: Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Bill Paxton, Channing Tatum, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas etc - at his disposal to deliver on all fronts.Before you go Gina Carano who?
in terms of the lead actress on whose broad shoulders the weight of this film got carried upon, it's good background to know that she's a one time #3 in Unified Women's MMA Rankings, thus making her the genuine deal required of an action heroine, sorely missed in Hollywood these days, especially those who possess real skills and not poser ones that any camera can turn one into.
There isn't much talk here by the leading character as she devotes herself to carrying out her mission and overcoming obstacles put in her way, and Soderbergh fashions the pace and mood of the film almost like a typical 80s B-action movie if not for its European trot from Barcelona to Dublin predominantly told in a series of flashbacks.
"A dynamic action-thriller directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Lem Dobbs, Mallory Kane(Gina Carano) is a highly trained covert operative who ends ups up being double crossed and left for dead by the people she has worked with in the past.
The Cast Is Extraordinary And Includes Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Bill Paxton, Michael Douglas, Channing Tatum, Antonio Banderas, And Gina Carano In Her Film Debut.
The Film Lacks The Choppy Editing Of Most Action Movies And Just Delivers Great Cinematic Fight Sequences.
While most of the professional cage brawlers who've made it to the film world have had to slug it out in some remarkably bad low-budget fare (e.g. NEVER SURRENDER), MMA heroine Gina Carano lucks out with a great director and a surprisingly good cast in a pretty satisfying CIA revenge flick that could easily become the foundation of a very promising career.The story: Black ops operative Mallory Kane (Carano) embarks on an intercontinental mission to find out why she was betrayed by her allies...I can easily see why the general, non- action-oriented public might not like this movie.
Real life female mixed martial arts star Gina Carano convincingly beats up the blokes in this lean Steven Soderbergh action thriller.
Starring Gina Carano, along with an A-list cast and one of the most innovative and exciting action scenes ever put to film with plot twists, and eye-popping stunts.What I like best about this film is how character driven it is.
The lack of more action may turn off some, but I liked this film more because it actually has a plot and characters you really care about.
In other words, it's a fun ride full of stunning fight scenes filmed with an artistry only director Steven Soderbergh can achieve.Newcomer Gina Carano stars as Mallory Kane, an independent contractor ... |
tt1131734 | Jennifer's Body | Opening scene (depending on the DVD's theatrical or extended versions), shows Needy, a violent inmate, in a correctional facility. She is notorious for being a 'kicker', and is now reflecting during lockdown on past events.
In the small town of Devil's Kettle, Minnesota, the story focuses on two girls who are life-long best friends. One of them is our Anita "Needy" Lesnicky (Amanda Seyfried), a blond-haired, nerdy, substantially unpopular, "plain Jane" student. The other focus is on Jennifer Check (Megan Fox), a beautiful black-haired girl who is a cheerleader on the school's flag team. Jennifer's pet name for Needy is Monistat, and Vagisil is, in turn, Needy's nickname for Jennifer. An obnoxious Oriental kid chides Needy for being 'lesbi-gay' but she just points out "sandbox love is forever."One evening, Jennifer has Needy accompany her to Melody Lane, a local bar, where an indie rock band named Low Shoulder is playing. It seems odd, so unlikely that they would bother to perform at such an insignificant venue, but frontman Nikolai Wolf (Adam Brody) explains that it is a service to their fans. Needy overhears him referring to Jennifer, who is fetching them drinks (getting past the age restriction barrier by playing Hello Titty with the bartender off-camera), as the State Fair Butter Queen, the perennial small-town virgin who loves 'showing it off' but remains a teaser. Obviously, he has unresolved issues with girls. During the performance, the bar catches on fire, but Nikolai gazes on with a smirk, and Needy leads a shocked Jennifer to safety through the toilet window, just barely escaping from being killed in the blaze. Outside, they are accosted by the band who of course made it out okay. However, Needy stands by forlornly as the band members lead a dazed Jennifer to their van, before driving off, with Needy watching as the remains of the bar collapses to the ground in a fiery inferno.Needy eventually makes it home where she finds a note from her divorced mother who is working swing shift this evening as well.. Needy calls her boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons), and explains about the disaster, and has misgivings about Jennifer's fate, fearing the worst. Those guys could be rapists, and that one guy looked especially evil, almost skull-faced, reminding her of a grim-looking petrified tree she saw as a child. Realizing her worst fears, she unexpectedly bumps into Jennifer in her home: clothing torn, bruised and bleeding, looking like a feral thing risen from the grave. Things get even stranger, as Needy watches Jennifer tear wolfishly into a raw chicken in her fridge and give an unworldly roar at her, before spewing up a black sickly-looking tarry substance all over the floor. Jennifer further terrorizes Needy when she throws her against a wall asking her if she is scared of her. Jennifer then runs out the front door leaving a bewildered and frightened Needy behind.The next day, the tragedy of the bar fire has captured the town, and Needy morosely remembers her childhood friend, who then suddenly just reappears looking every inch the hot teen fox again, and impervious to the sorrows of classmates feeling the tragedy, traipses through the somber halls looking like a junior supermodel on a dreamy Valentine date. Flippantly referring to the burn victims as 'a white trash pig roast', her whole manner is "like, get over it!" Jennifer even leads the grieving high school football captain into the nearby woods after school, ostensibly to fulfill his deceased friend's suggestion that they'd have made a 'banging' couple. As a menagerie of forest animals gather to watch, she seduces the big guy, literally leading him like a lamb to the slaughter before she bears down on him with that sexy mouth having turned into a demonic gaping maw. Later on in the day, a highly-concerned teacher at the school finds the captain's grisly remains, and the town is rocked by the additional tragedy. Low Shoulder's song 'Through the Trees' becomes the anthem of hope amidst all the gloom and despair, and obviously, they have chart success, donating 3% to the cause of the victims. Needy questions the paltry effort, and how come they are credited with having rescued survivors while she herself knows that is untrue?A month passes by, Jennifer begins to look a little pale and gaunt, enigmatically explaining that 'it is wearing off', she needs sustenance. As Needy watches, Jennifer catches the eye of the school nerd Colin Gray (Kyle Gallner), and asks him to meet her at her house. She sarcastically says that she's got the DVD of Aquamarine and that the lead character 'is half-sushi' and that 'she has, like, sex through her blowhole or something', and comments to Needy that the guy is into maggot rock and wears nail polish, so her dick is bigger than his.The next evening, Needy spends time with her boyfriend Chip, while Colin goes to meet Jennifer... only to find her at a still-in-construction house in a deserted neighborhood where she is in an upstairs room which is lit by various candles. It is here that Jennifer suddenly transforms into a snake-eyed humanoid creature which kills Colin and sups on his flesh, as Needy has a shocking vision that causes her to panic as Chip makes love to her.Needy leaves her boyfriend's place, and drives away, only to encounter Jennifer walking like an animal across the road, before jumping onto her car's windshield. Needy returns home, only to find Jennifer sleeping in her bed, and, true to the spirit of this black comedy, wearing her Evil Dead T-shirt. Jennifer then kisses Needy, which turns into a hot make-out session, which causes Needy to verbaly snap over what is going on. Needy orders Jennifer to leave, but Jennifer instead confesses what happened to her on the night the local bar burned down....In a flashback sequence, the band Low Shoulder drove Jennifer out into a forested area, gleefully intending to offer her as a Satanic sacrifice, in exchange for chart success. During the band's discussions, several wondered if Jennifer really was a virgin, and she pretended to be as pure as the morning rain, hoping that they would let her go. Using some instructions they downloaded off the internet, they spoke an incantation to the Devil, before stabbing her with a Bowie knife, which was then thrown into the notorious whirlpool off the nearby Devil's Kettle Falls.Back in the present, Jennifer further explains to Needy that she found herself still alive (which Needy doubts), and then wandered away from the site after they had left, and then Jennifer stumbled back to Needy's place that night. Jennifer also confides to Needy, that when she is fully replenished with human flesh, she is indestructible. She demonstrates this by stabbing herself in the arm with a pocket knife, and Needy watches as the flesh immediately heals. Jennifer also tells Needy that on that same night after she left Needy's house, she came across the Indian exchange student that had survived the fire, walking along the road, and waylaid him, killing and devouring him and then hid the body in the woods. Needy threatens to call the police, but Jennifer tells Needy that she will just deny everything that she just told her and on top of that, no one will ever believe such a story no matter how Needy tells it. With that, Jennifer jumps out of Needy's second floor window and lands 12 feet down on the ground, completely uninjured, and runs off into the night.Now more worried than ever, Needy goes to the occult section of their school's library, and begins to do research. Needy soon finds where the band went wrong. Because Jennifer was by no means a virgin, their sacrifice backfired, though it indeed brought them prosperity. But it has also turned her into a succubus, a female demon with a constant need to feed on young men to keep in tip-top condition. Needy grows upset because of the upcoming Spring Formal, and how it seems that Jennifer could very well turn the dance into a bloodbath. She informs her boyfriend Chip about this, but he thinks she should get psychiatric help.Eventually, the Spring Formal comes about, and Needy goes there to meet Chip. Also in attendance is the band Low Shoulder, who have gained a big-time sold-out national tour since that fateful night several months prior. As they take the stage, and Needy does not see Chip anywhere, she bolts from the auditorium. Also, during this time, we see Jennifer ambush Chip in the woods, telling him that Needy was having sex with Colin, and that was why she was so upset with his death. Jennifer wants to hear that Chip prefers her, but his heart belongs to Needy, and she tries to win him over, and she kisses him ardently. They walk towards an abandoned mansion with a graffiti-filled indoor swimming pool, where she flips out into a rage when rejected, throwing Chip into the gunky water.Needy, in her formal pink ball-gown, goes into a headlong barefoot run, desperate to be there before it is too late. She finds Chip in the water, where the demonic Jennifer, in full-blown animalistic mode, has already bitten into him. He is weakened by extensive blood loss. Needy dives into the water to help Chip crawl out while Jennifer closes in for the kill, and Needy sprays her with a can of mace, which makes Jennifer vomit more black fluid at them. As Needy and Chip crawl out of the dirty swimming pool, Jennifer actually levitates herself out of the pool and confronts them. Jennifer and Needy argue, Jennifer threatens to kill her (she doesn't just kill only boys, she 'goes both ways!') and Chip, with his last energy, stabs Jennifer through the stomach with a pool net's handle, impaling her, before she escapes through a nearby window. Needy watches helplessly as her beloved Chip, professing his love, "I think I already died before you got here, but I woke up when I heard your voice", dies in her arms. The DVD's deleted scenes show how our heroine then went, tattered dress, frog slime-filled hair and all, to confront the band who rushed off the stage upon seeing this vision of vengeance, and she collapsed with sheer exhaustion. Waking up on her bed looking like a wilted flower, she slowly gathers her wits, and then went for her Dad's toolbox and found a boxcutter.Later that evening, Needy, hell-bent on revenge, breaks into Jennifer's room, where she and her former best friend scuffle. Jennifer levitates and their fight goes midair. Needy yanks the "Best Friends Forever" locket from her former friend's neck, and, crashing down onto her, stabs Jennifer through the heart with the boxcutter, killing her. However, the noise is heard by Jennifer's mother (Carrie Genzel), who finds Needy crouched over her daughter with the bloody knife. Murder!Following this, Needy is taken to a mental institution. However, the showdown with Jennifer resulted in her getting scratched and bitten. Supposedly, being bitten by Jennifer also caused some of her demonic powers to be transferred to Needy... as well as her evil personality and attitude. Needy becomes vicious, ill-tempered, and anti-social with the orderlies and other residents. Isolated and abandoned by everyone she knows (nobody from her school, not even her own parents, have come to visit Needy at the hospital), she sets a plot in motion to escape.After a fight with an institution doctor, Needy is isolated in a cell, but that night she manages to use her new demonic powers to levitate herself to an overhead window, where she kicks it out with her near-superhuman strength, before breaking through a nearby chain-link fence and escaping into the night.As she wanders down a rural road, she finds a watery runoff (which is where the nearby Devil Falls empties out into), along with the knife that was used on Jennifer. Needy picks up the knife. Flagging down a passing vehicle, she tells the driver, an old guy intent on scoring with her (ass, gas, or grass, yet another deleted scene), that she's following a band, and the old rat exclaims that it must be one hell of a band, to which she then firmly, coldly, grimly adds that their last performance will be tonight.Wouldn't want to be in their shoes!As the end credits roll, we are treated to amateur video of the band Low Shoulder checking into a fancy hotel after a concert, and candidly doing things in their hotel room (drinking, smoking dope, snorting cocaine, among other debauchery). Eventually, the scene is shown, in cutaways, of the band being savagely murdered by a blurred figure which enters through the front door. We then see police crime scene photos of the dead band members strewn around the hotel room, with the sacrificial knife in the chest of frontman Nikolai Wolf. Just desserts.The final image of the movie shows security camera footage of a pale and evil-looking Needy walking down the hotel corridor, away from the band's room after killing all of them as revenge for what they did to Jennifer. Needy walks past a number of excitedly scurrying female band groupies as she walks out of the hotel. | comedy, cult, gothic, entertaining, flashback | train | imdb | Such is the case with "Jennifer's Body," the sophomore script from Diablo ("Juno") Cody, which takes an uncomfortable union of concept, content, and direction (by Karyn Kusama), and transforms it into a film I really WANTED to like, but in the end couldn't.
well, it's Megan Fox. The only reason why she was "discovered" by Michael Bay and put in the Transformers movies was because she's hot, and that's precisely the only reason why she was given her first starring role with Jennifer's Body.
After watching this movie, though, I concluded that Fox is nothing more than eye candy - whether she's directed by Bay or Martin Scorsese, she'll always give a bad performance.The film tells the story of teenager Needy (Amanda Seyfried), whose best friend is the ridiculously hot Jennifer (Megan Fox).
You'd have to be either a very small boy or girl or a very frightful person in order to be scared by the movie.Although the aforementioned Fox is not very convincing as Jennifer - okay, that's unfair; she is convincing when portraying the mega-hot high-school girl because she's basically playing herself; it's when she turns into a boy-eating monster that things become laughable -, the rest of the cast are pretty much all right.
Johnny Simmons is also very likable as Chip - his eventual fate was the only scene in the film that got me emotionally involved with what was happening on screen - and a very small supporting performance by J.K. Simmons - as a school teacher - is as memorable as things get in this film.Those who want to watch the movie to catch a glimpse of a naked Megan Fox are definitely going to be disappointed.
Really, though, these are only very small problems which I could have forgiven had the film worked as a horror flick - the main problem with Jennifer's Body is that it's neither scary nor laugh-out-loud funny.Having seen and appreciated Juno, I was expecting more from screen writer Diablo Cody.
If Jennifer's Body was a way to prove that Diablo Cody could write a successful horror film, it failed.
Even those who choose to watch in the hope of seeing Megan Fox in the altogether will be disappointed: despite playing a sex-mad schoolgirl slut who becomes a seductive boy-eating succubus, she fails to flash the goods.Of course, there is the much touted lesbian clinch with nerdy best friend Needy (played by Amanda Seyfried, who is much hotter than Fox in my opinion) to keep the lads (or ladies) momentarily happy, but a little girl-on-girl action alone does not make a good film..
It's a real shame that peple (critics) were expecting more of diablo after her Oscar win for 'Juno".The is a solid,fun, VERY 'R" rated film that deserves a viewing.If I were a teenager I probably would have a copy of "Jennifer's Body" stashed under my mattress!!!.
This is one of, if not the worst film I've ever seen.Not only does it not fit into any sort of relative "genre" (its not a horror film, it's not a teen drama, its not a comedy, but tries to be all of this and more) but it's loaded with terrible scripted dialogue that attempts to be "cutting edge" by inventing hip slang that is too embarrassing for me to mention in this review, the plot makes no sense whatsoever and the characters are all annoying in their own way.
Even the awkward sex scene is ruined by bad dialogue and corny jokes.I've never hated a film as much as I hate "Jennifer's Body" the board will try to convince you that its "hip" and has "memorable dialogue" (memorable like herpes, it will irritate you for the rest of your life, disappearing when you forget it but then come back with a vengeance when you're reminded of it by some loser who quotes it thinking its funny) or that the film is some sort of deeper metaphor, but in reality is a terribly written, horribly edited film that was supposed to be released around Halloween, but was pushed ahead in an attempt to make its money back because the studio realized it couldn't contend with the rest of the horror flicks coming out near the end of this month.If you want to know what the experience of this film is like, take an issue of whatever teen pop magazine is popular nowadays (do they still publish tiger beat?) feed your dog some laxatives, have it squat on said magazine and beat yourself in the face with it for an hour and a half.Diablo Cody is nothing more than a human interest story with ego issues.
If John Hughes and Sam Raimi met in a back alley, and made a clandestine pact to create a teenage horror-comedy, it might have ended up feeling a little like "Jennifer's Body", a film that relies very little on gore and jump scares, but focuses more on the built-in horrors of living as a teenager attending a small-town high school.I haven't known many people who speak like Diablo Cody's characters (though, believe it or not, I have known one or two), but I find the dialog extremely entertaining on screen, especially in a film like this.
Having saying that the movie does get better as it goes along and Megan Fox is back on form from her terrible acting in Transformers,(which wasn't entirely her fault as she had very little to do).In Jennifer's body she has the aura of sexy and seductiveness to seduce the boys, but she's not just eye candy in this, she has more to do and her acting is much better.However Seyfried steals the show with her acting as most of it is really good providing a tone of awkwardness around her boyfriend particular in a surprisingly sweet love scene between them but the inner fiestiness to stop Jennifer.Director Karyn Kusama skillfully mixes the black comic with the horror namely the violence, which is quite gruesome and there is some nice scenes, a couple of touching ones.And don't worry boys there is the sumptuous girl on girl kiss between Seyfried and Fox, which is not just a peck on the cheek.
Near the ending is interesting when you find out how Jennifer became a vampire, which will make you feel some sympathy for her and the actual ending itself has a small surprise twist, which you may see coming but it was still good to have.Overall Jennifer's body isn't a brilliant film but it's certainly not bad and I would recommend seeing it.
It's satire (bad satire, at that.) The film enjoys constant displays of ideas and images that correlate to the country (red, white and blue; burning flag) and religion (Town's name is "Devil's Kettle" religion is referenced many times.) matched with some of the admit-tingly hilarious dialogue of Diablo Cody, and of course, Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried (who bring us guys a VERY likable bedroom scene.), to bring you one of the weirdest experimental teen horror flicks that tries to make a statement at the same time.
Successful with Juno in telling a story about a smart-mouthed teenager who finds herself pregnant, with Ellen Page and Michael Cera possessing some cute couple chemistry, Jennifer's Body turned out to be attempting to replicate that smarty dialogue, but felt so flat in the way her horridly inserted teen-vocabulary sounded each time they get uttered by It Girl of the town of Devil's Kettle, Fox's titular character Jennifer.While one would think it's second nature for Fox to be that figurative man-eater, in actual fact she fell quite flat besides smacking her lips most of the time, and trying to sound all sultry but coming off as quite artificial.
With those geeky specs and frayed, frizzy hair, Seyfried downright steals the show from under the nose of the vampish Fox, and her character possesses quite the spunk in getting at what she wants, like a crouching tiger who's just waiting for an opportunity to shine, which translated into the movie as getting angry off enough to dish out some punishment of their own.Cody's story clumsily explains the links between Jennifer's supernatural abilities with that of a county-wide disaster which claimed the lives of enough citizens to permeate a lot of doom and gloom in the air.
At it's best, "Jennifer's Body" could have been an episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" but the problem is that there are no characters to care about and that is the fault of the screenplay.Megan Fox is easily the sexiest actress around today and in this film she shows that if she works really hard, she might one day achieve the status of Jennifer Tilly.
You already know its starring Megan Fox so if you think you will simply hate it just for her and ignore the fact this movie contains other great characters, than don't bother seeing it.
While I wasn't fascinated by Juno, a film written by her, it was mostly because of the themes and plot of that film: I still liked Cody's dialogue.Jennifer's Body isn't actually a scary film, yet the makers of this film have used the horror themes excellently.
Longtime friendship are beautiful, funny, fragile and ugly all at once, and "Jennifer's Body", a sly but bit limp horror satire that's the sophomore effort of Oscar-winning scribe Diablo Cody ("Juno") shows that.Sandbox chums since kindergarten, Jennifer Check (Megan Fox of the Transformers films and "Jonah Hex") and Anita "Needy" Lesnick (Amanda Seyfried of "Big Love" and "Dear John") are an odd pair since the former is a sharp sexpot and the latter, despite having loyal boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons of "The Spirit and "Hotel For Dogs"), is a bookworm mouse.
After many years of women relegated to the characters of victims or sexual objects in the fantastic cinema, a feminist side appeared on the horror genre.I think this evolution started with the character Ripley from Alien, who was not a generic male character interpreted by an actress, but a realistic transposition of roles respecting the essence from the female sex.On this decade, we had films like Ginger Snaps, Teeth and The Descent, whose bloody stories hid valid reflections about some aspects of the female existence.Jennifer's Body pretends to be an addition to that small but distinguished niche, and although it covers similar subjects to that movies, I think it is far away from reaching their narrative quality and visceral impact.Although the presence of Megan Fox as the main actress will be the main attraction for many people to see this movie, my main interest in watching this movie laid on another woman...screenwriter Diablo Cody, who won an Academy Award for Juno.That film has many haters who did not accept its eccentric characters and its universe of impenetrable juvenile jargon, dark pop references and ambiguous messages about the teenage pregnancy.However, I liked it very much, mainly because of its stylized vision, which perfectly combined honest feelings with cynical observations and an intelligent sense of humor which was expressed on ingenious dialogs.I also like Cody's screenplays for the TV series United States of Tara pretty much, and because of all that, I expected Jennifer's Body with big expectations, since I was very interested in watching Cody's version of a horror film.The final result was a moderately entertaining but mediocre film which disappointed me pretty much, since I expected a lot more.On the one hand, let's see the positive elements from this film.If we leave the horror aspect from this film aside, we can notice that the main narrative flow from this movie is pushed by something which feels real: an addictive and co-dependent relationship between two young women.Like she did on Mamma Mia!, Amanda Seyfried steals Jennifer's Body with her perfect performance, and I think she truly elevated the quality from it.But, now, I have to mention the negative elements which make of Jennifer's Body a mediocre and forgettable experience.There are various moments of blood and violence on this movie, but they did not produce too much impact on me, because the screenplay does not endorse them with an emotional background.The ending is not deep or justified, so it does not result very satisfactory.Besides, Karyn Kusama's direction feels weak.Scene by scene, she did not make a bad work, but I could not feel a cohesion between them...they feel alien from each other.In other words, there is not a vision which unites the experience and drives us through the story with enthusiasm.What is more, although the screenplay has some positive elements, it has various logical fails, predictable things and clichés like idiot adults on supporting characters.And finally, with the exception of Seyfried, the performances are rather anonymous.If I did not have such big expectations, I would have may liked Jennifer's Body more.But, whatever the way it is, I found it to be mediocre but worthy of a slight recommendation because I cannot deny that, in spite of its fails, it did not bore me..
The characters are likable and Mamma Mia's Amanda Seyfried is great as Jennifer's best friend Needy.The poster describes it as Mean Girls meets Lost Boys and that's a pretty good summary, though it's better than I'd imagined.
The question is whether or not you like its star, "Transformers" Megan Fox, in her first leading role, as a high school queen bee turned soul-sucking succubus, and the attempts of her best friend Needy (Amanda Seyfried) to try to stop her bloody rampage."Jennifer's Body" was directed by Karyn Kusama and written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (of 2007's "Juno") and as per usual, her script is chock-full of pop culture references with everything from Tampax, to Vagisil, to Bowflex, to Hannah Montana; there's also some assorted references to the early "B"-movie horror of John Carpenter, the "Scream"-era camp and sarcasm, "Heathers"-esque attitude, and a slight subtext promoting the power of vengeance-seeking young women over under-sexed young men.
That is of course, no excuse for not liking this movie, for which Fox is actually quite good in her first starring role, where she is still pretty much playing herself, a hot-to-trot sex-bomb.As the titular character, Jennifer Check, Fox does not disappoint in delivering a performance that is not by any means spectacular, or even really bad, but succeeds for all the right reasons because it utilizes Fox's key assets, namely her big mouth, her much-fabled sexiness, her much-talked-about bi-sexuality and, hum, of course, her ASSETS (italicized).
And so it's up to Needy to find a way to stop her before too many more young men end up biting the dust."Jennifer's Body" is perhaps another entry into what I can only guess will be an attempt by Hollywood to bring back the good old days of campy "B"-movie horror.
I know I probably just lost half my readership by saying that, but either way, Fox's male fans won't be too - italicized - disappointed in seeing their girl's sexiness flashed all over the screen in a gratuitous fashion, which includes a far-away shot of her skinny dipping in a lake, and of course there is that much-talked-about make-out scene between her and Amanda Seyfried.I don't care much for Megan Fox, but I can only say that she wasn't bad in her first starring role, because it plays well on her two main strengths: looking sexy and saying her lines like a crazy porn star.
Jennifers body revolves around three main characters, Needy 'the girl from mama mia', her bf ,and Jennifer ,Megan Fox's character.The film Opens with the Needy's characters in a mental institution and the movie retraces its steps to why and how needy ended up there ,its a pretty shocking and crazy set of events that lead her toward a mental breakdown .I hadnt heard of this movie until i rented it one Friday ,there were decent actors in it and i enjoy my Horror movies so why not give it go and plus Megan Fox on the box cover looking mighty fine had a little something to do with it .From reading previous reviews and stateing the obvious ,this is not everyones cup of tea ,but to be fair to Megan Fox she does a good job i cant see how she could of played the character any different or any better, and Needy 'Amanada Seyfrieds' role is spot on also ,watch out for JK Simmons as the school teacher puts in a great little roll ,all in all i fairly enjoyed the movie it was paced well it was creepy it is your classic Friday night Horror ,it has blood ,it has scares ,it has at least one genuinely very creepy moment when Jennifer turns up at Needys house after there night out at the Bar .I think the people who know they like this kind of movie will seek it out and enjoy it, it will be in a lot of DVD collections im sure as the years go by ,i would like to add that i did not know that Diablo Cody wrote this as i did not see the movie Juno ,i could tell that was not to my liking despite the Oscar .So bottom line ,if your looking for a tight nice looking horror movie for the weekend Jennifers Body hits the mark 6.5 out of 10.
The acting was top notch for people who were performing in a high school play, the plot was so predictable it was one second shy of laughable, and about 10 minutes into the movie you already know exactly what's going to happen because it's just that lame.Now I'm almost 100% sure that the only reason some movie that sucks this bad was ever released was because Megan Fox was a hit at the time but even her "body" couldn't save this, if anything her acting more then likely demolished this movie even further.
Jennifers Body is a 2009 dark comedy and a horror film written by Diablo Cody.The film is directed by Karyn Kusama and stars Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Adam Brody and Johnny Simmons.
This movie was OK, I'm sure a lot of teen boys liked it since it's all about Megan Fox's body. |
tt0120655 | Dogma | The film opens with a homeless man (Bud Cort) on a deserted New Jersey boardwalk in Asbury Park being assaulted and severely beaten by three mysterious pre-teen kids in street hockey gear.Cardinal Glick (George Carlin) gives a presentation at a church telling about the various changes that are going to be made to boost Catholicism's fading image, including a new, more uplifting symbol for Jesus, the Buddy Christ, and a rededication of a century-old church. With a Papal sanction, anybody who enters the church on the day of the rededication ceremony will have all their sins forgiven, and be given a morally clean slate. This catches the attention of two fallen angels, Bartleby (Ben Affleck) and Loki (Matt Damon), when they are sent a newspaper cutting regarding the rededication. Loki was the former angel of death, and Bartleby, a Grigori or fallen angel, talked him into quitting his position, which got them banned from Heaven, to serve an eternity in a place worse than Hell; Wisconsin. Bartleby and Loki are not willing to spend another thousand years in Wisconsin, so they see the plenary indulgence as a loophole to sneak back into Heaven, and after analyzing the situation, the plan seems foolproof. Loki also figures that he can get back on God's good side if he resumes his position as the angel of death, killing people who God would consider sinners, particularly the creators of a hit children's show called "Mooby the Golden Calf." The two set off for New Jersey, killing various people along the way.We then meet Bethany Sloane (Linda Fiorentino), a Catholic who has been having a crisis of faith since her husband left her after a disease destroyed her uterus and ruined her chances of ever having children. She lives in Illinois and works at an abortion clinic which is often picketed by Catholic pro-life demonstrators. Bethany rejects going out on a date or socializing with her co-workers in favor of her job.We also meet Azrael (Jason Lee), a demon. We learn that he is in charge of the three kids from the beginning, the demonic Stygian Triplets. He enters a house and kills the homeowner, choosing the home because it has central air conditioning. He tells the Triplets that they need to kill the last Scion.That night, Bethany is getting ready for bed when she meets the Metatron (Alan Rickman), an angel who acts as God's messenger, who tells her about Bartleby and Loki's plan to get back into Heaven. It is here where we learn the biggest problem with their plan; if they sneak back into Heaven through the power of the plenary indulgence, they will have proven that God isn't infallible, which would cause all of existence to be erased. God wants Bethany to stop Bartleby and Loki from entering the church. Through the Metatron 'He' also tells her that she'll have support from two 'prophets'. Bethany is reluctant at first, but realizes over the course of the conversation that the situation is real.The following night, while she gets in her car after her job to go to New Jersey, she is attacked by the Stygians. Just as they are about to kill her, they are beaten up and flee. The heroes turn out to be Jay (Jason Mewes), and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith), two New Jersey drug dealers/stoners who came to Illinois in hopes of finding John Hughes fictional town of Shermer. Bethany realizes that they are the so-called prophets that the Metatron told her about. She asks them to take her with them to New Jersey. Jay, thinking Bethany wants to have sex with him, agrees to take her with them.Jay manages to break down her stick-shift car by driving too fast in the wrong gear. Stranded in the middle of nowhere, Bethany is just about to head home, when a mysterious man falls out of the sky and lands on the road, completely naked. The man turns out to be Rufus (Chris Rock), the 13th apostle, who was left out of the Bible because he was black. In exchange for helping the trio stop Bartleby and Loki, he wants to ensure that he is referenced in the Bible and that Jesus' true color, black, is revealed. He also claims that Jesus still owes him twelve bucks. Jay and Silent Bob then go to a strip club to prove that Jay isn't gay, and the group meet a beautiful muse-turned-stripper named Serendipity (Salma Hayek).Meanwhile, Azrael isn't happy about the Stygian's failure to kill Bethany, so he decides to send something far more powerful.In PIttsburgh, Bartleby and Loki enter the boardroom of Mooby the Golden Calf's production executives. After pointing out the fatal sins of everyone in the room, Loki shoots and kills everyone in it, sparing only a woman who he claims is innocent. She ends up splashed with blood and scared to death, but unharmed.At the Illinois strip club, following a long theological discussion with Serendipity (who claims that God is a woman), the group is attacked by a demon called the Golgothan, a demon made entirely out of human excrement (the so-called Shit Demon, created from the voided waste of the crucified dead on Golgotha). The demon lays waste to half the people in the club including a gangster rap group befriended by Jay and Silent Bob, but is defeated by Bob, with the help of an odor-eliminating spray. The group continues on the road, while Serendipity stays behind to question the shit demon.Somewhere in Pennsylvania, Bartleby and Loki attempt to get on a bus, but are unable to get tickets. They are then confronted by Azrael, who warns them all about the people trying to stop them from entering the New Jersey church and that they intend to kill them, and that they should keep a low profile.While on a train, Jay and Silent Bob meet up with Bartleby and Loki. Bethany and Bartleby become friends over many drinks and a discussion on why they lost their faith. The drunk Bethany, thinking Bartleby is someone else, tells him about their plan to stop him and Loki. Bartleby goes crazy and tries to kill Bethany right there on the the train. Rufus, Jay, and Silent Bob then step in, and they throw the two angels off the train.While hiding out in an underground parking garage for the night, Loki, looking back on what Rufus said about there being serious consequences to their plan, questions whether or not he should go through with their plan. Bartleby is infuriated even more and has an epiphany about how God showed the humans more patience than he ever showed angels, and how it's unfair that they should be banished to earth for not agreeing with God's plan, while humans should have a choice. He insists that they continue, and kill Bethany and the others... even if it means that all of existence will cease. Loki suggests that Bartleby is acting much the way that Lucifer did in his conflict with God.At the same time, having left the train to throw Bartleby and Loki off their trail, and while camping out in the woods, Bethany questions the increasing seriousness of the situation. She demands to know why she was invested with the task of stopping the angels. Rufus then reveals the truth about Bethany. She is the last Scion, the last living blood relative of Jesus. Bethany finds this information too much, and decides that she can't go through with the mission, cursing God's name. The Metatron then comes down from Heaven once again and tells her that Jesus took the news about who he was the same way, but ultimately found the courage to go through with it. Bethany is inspired to continue on the mission.The Metatron then meets up with the others and tells them that God has gone missing on one of his periodic vacations, in which he takes on a human form and goes to the New Jersey coast to play skeeball. The group has no idea how this happened, and are out of ideas on how to stop Bartleby and Loki. Jay then suggests that they go ask Cardinal Glick to cancel the re-dedication ceremony, therefore rendering the loophole useless. The group meets up with Cardinal Glick, but he doesn't buy their story, and insists that the ceremony will take place as scheduled. He rudely sends them off. Jay retaliates by stealing one of the Cardinal's golf clubs.As Bartleby and Loki approach New Jersey, Bethany and the others sit in a bar, trying to decide what they should do now. Suddenly, Azrael shows up, along with the Stygian triplets. He kills the bartender, and takes the group hostage, while they wait for Bartleby and Loki to enter the church.Meanwhile, Bartleby and Loki show up at the re-dedication ceremony. Bartleby then proceeds to tell everybody there that they have all been condemned by God, and that they must now pay for their sins in blood. Forcing the now unwilling Loki to join in, he brandishes his wings, and begins slaughtering everyone at the ceremony with rapid firing machine guns.At the bar, Azrael tells everyone about his plan; he was once a muse himself, but refused to fight in the war between Heaven and Hell, and was condemned to Hell as a traitor. He spend a few million years trying to find a way to escape from Hell, but realizes that it's impossible. He then discovered the Catholics plan to make the church a passage of forgiveness on that day. Unable to become human and go through with the loophole himself, he decided to lure Bartleby and Loki into the church and cause them to destroy existence. He says that he'd rather not exist than go back to Hell... and is more than willing to take everyone down with him if it means never going back. Silent Bob then picks up the golf club that Jay stole from the cardinal and threatens Azrael with it. Azrael, believing the challenge to be a stupid decision, allows Silent Bob to hit him with it. Strangely enough, the golf club caves in Azrael's chest, killing him. Demons can only be defeated using an instrument of God, and Bethany assumes the Cardinal blessed his clubs for a better golf game. Using this knowledge, Bethany blesses the sink behind the bar, and the team drown the three Stygians in the holy water. The group then leaves for the church.When they get to the church, they find the scene of Bartleby and Loki's bloody massacre, but since they still exist, they conclude that they haven't yet entered the church. Loki then shows up, drunk, and with his wings cut off, he is now human. He and Serendipity greet each other like old friends. When confronted about the mass slaughter, Loki says that it was all Bartleby's idea, and that he didn't want to go through with the killing, and only wanted to walk through the church archway and have it be done at that. When the two had killed everyone present and had run out of ammunition, Bartleby began seizing strangers from nearby and dropping them to their deaths in front of the church.Bartleby then comes down from the sky and tells the group that he was waiting for them to arrive before they entered the church so he can kill them. Serendipity tries to tell him that Azrael was just using him, but Bartleby is already aware and tells them that he doesn't care anymore. Bartleby reveals that his mission is no longer to return to Heaven. Finding God's treatment of angels compared to humans unfair, his goal is now to destroy existence, which he feels is a failed experiment. Loki tries to talk Bartleby out of it, and Bartleby is disappointed in him. Bartleby stabs and kills his old friend. The group then attacks and tries to stop Bartleby. Jay tries to help by shooting off his wings with a machine gun, only to learn that he just made him human... and thus enable him to re-enter Heaven once he dies.Bethany, who heard in the news about the homeless man who was beaten by the Stygians at the beginning, realizes that the man is God, and if she takes Him off life support, God would be able to come down and stop Bartleby. She goes with Silent Bob to the hospital, and unplugs the man's life support system, which releases God from the body. However the force of God's spirit exiting the body is so powerful, it kills Bethany, causing a large wound to open up in her lower right abdomen, much like the wound Christ received on the cross.When Bartleby opens the doors to the church, only to find God (Alanis Morrisette) and the Metatron standing at the door. Upon seeing God and realizing that he has failed, Bartleby sobbingly apologizes. God silently forgives him. The Metatron then tells everyone who "isn't dead from another plane of existence" to cover their ears. They do it, Bartleby thanks God for her forgiveness and God opens her mouth, causing Bartleby's head and chest to explode.Existence is saved, and everyone is happy. Silent Bob then arrives with Bethany's dead body, which God instantly repairs and revives. Bethany wakes up, and is happy that everything is okay. Jay is confused as to what is going on, and God responds to Jay's profane outburst by kissing him, causing him to faint with a dopey smile on his face. God walks around the immediate area for a few moments, surveying the death and destruction caused by Bartleby and Loki. She smiles and all the corpses and blood disappear. Bethany thanks God for everything, and her faith is restored. The Metatron then reveals that Bethany is pregnant (God's repair was characteristically complete), before taking Rufus and Serendipity with him and God back to Heaven. As the film ends, Bethany tells a shocked Jay and Silent Bob that she's to be a mother, and that they can't have sex. Jay replies that it would be safe up until the third trimester. | entertaining, comedy, murder, adult comedy, bleak, thought-provoking, cult, violence, historical fiction, good versus evil, satire, revenge, alternate history | train | imdb | As I watched it (the first and all subsequent times), I felt sure that the movie was written by someone who really loves his church -- but is smart and aware enough to recognize its shortcomings, its blindspots, even its failures and hypocrisies.
In all these works, just as in the real world, love and joy and beauty and filth and cruelty and despair are constantly tumbling over and bleeding into each other; the one universal rule is that everything is absurd, that the human race is the most absurd thing of all, and that this absurdity can be the catalyst to either suffocating grief or a kind of hilarious wonder.If you go into "Dogma" expecting a trim and tidy theological comedy of manners, you'll be sorely disappointed.
Dogma is firmly rooted in Kevin Smith's View Askew world so fans of his other films will not be disappointed.
Dogma goes beyond the "dick and fart jokes", which are reassuringly present, and gives the viewer something to think about.The film deals with thoughts on religion, Catholicism mainly, in a way that pokes fun at the institution but does not deride it.
The film's comments and contents are definitely meant to be taken with a grain of salt.The cast is great and there are many instances of hilarious viewing, usually Jay and Silent Bob, as well as very sensitive and expressive moments from the various actors.In the end, Dogma is a thoroughly fun and thoughtful viewing experience that both old and new fans will enjoy.
The film has the same great comedy we're used to from Kevin Smith, but he shows that he has another dimension that I don't think many people thought was there.Jay and Silent Bob have their biggest role so far.
The characters in the film are trying to get the message across that people have changed the original God, man has made God into the image they want him/her to be, made their own religious rules, rules that God never intended.
It's more the second-long "ha!" kind of comedy.That simply means Kevin Smith's writing is clever enough to the point where you will be pleasantly shocked by some of the conversations and events of the film and think it all rather amusing and humorous.
Simple, but the slick, nonchalant approach to religion keeps the satire rampant.The film does spend a lot of its time explaining itself, which isn't too bad considering Smith keeps the explanations to-the-point and allows the characters to stay interesting in the process.
In general, the whole cast is very talented and their characters well written, which keeps the film interesting.It's not the funniest or most interesting comedy in terms of plot and the sequence of events, but "Dogma" is a smart concept that ultimately results in a sharp satire and some great thoughts that scrutinize religion in a way that never seems too out of line..
It is not often that you get to see a group of stars that you like in a funny movie that also makes some interesting points.Matt Damon (The Bourne Ultimatum ), Linda Fiorentino (Unforgettable).
Severus Snape, Jay and Silent Bob, Salma Hayek (Frida), George Carlin, and, of course, God (Alanis Morissette), all join to make this irreverent and funny movie.The premise is so interesting, and the fact that it is set in New Jersey is so appropriate, whether intentional or not.
One rough point was that a great deal of dialogue came of as expostiory - there was simply such a massive back-story (2000 years of religious history...go fig...) that it seemed at times that the plot had to fight its way through the background information.
Towards the very end, there were some surprisingly touching moments (of course rendered through Smith's unique style), and the closing scene felt like something right out of a good ol' 80's movie (that's a good thing!).
Dogma is one of Kevin Smith's most controversial films, a smartly written comedy that takes jabs against the Catholic Church and religion in general and it is very much a cult classic which my friends from college raved about.Bethany (Linda Fiorentino) is a catholic woman who works in an abortion clinic who is given a mission from Metatron (Alan Rickman), the Voice of God, to go church in New Jersey.
Fortunately (or unfortunately) Bethany is joined by Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith), the thirteenth apostle, Rufus (Chris Rock) as Loki goes on a killing spread and a demon called Azreal (Jason Lee) tries to make Loki and Bartleby success in their objective.Dogma is a sharply written comedy that is constantly funny.
He added gravitas and gave the role his all.Kevin Smith has often stated that he thinks he is not a particular good director, but with Dogma he is able to keep a fast pace, he knows how to shoot the dialogue sequences and can add a scene of tension when needed (i.e. the boardroom scene).
I think the infamous Smith has made a fantastic film here with an even better cast who really understood that he was trying to hint at the future of Catholicism (not exactly Buddy Christ, but you get the picture) and point out that we do mourn religion and not celebrate it.
Well worth watching, even if you don't get the religious stuff, Chris Rock, Jay Mewes and Kevin Smith are too funny!
Linda Fiorentino, the star of this film, put on one of the very worst performances I have ever witnessed in any large budget American film I have seen.I also think Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Chris Rock, Salma Hayek, and Jason Lee were all pretty awful.
I'm a big Kevin Smith fan, but almost every line in this one is cringe-worthy, and especially those said by Linda Fiorentino.The whole story is just a jumbled mess--it seemed very much made up on the fly as they went along.And wow is it long.
I haven't seen Dogma for years but was prompted to write something after being forced to sit through Clerks 2.I chose Dogma because it was the movie that plunged the nail in the coffin for me in regards to Smith's surprisingly successful career.I know Dogma is a big thing for Smith fans but it was such a hackneyed, lazy, low brow, self indulgent turd that I truly can't understand why.Did I expect too much after the hilarious (when I was 16) Clerks?
In comparison Dogma is trite, forced, laborious and worst of all unfunny.The problem with Smith is, and this infects all his movies, he thinks his mundane observations on life can sustain not just two or three hours, but a whole catalogue of films.Clerks worked because it was fresh, amateurish, and somewhat fearless.
I'm a firm believer that one has to laugh at oneself throughout life in order to keep one's feet firmly on the ground.The reason I wasn't offended was because this movie's script/dialogue/everything was so unbelievably bad that the only emotion it conjured up out of me was a new level of boredom.
The only part where I laughed was when the main character sprayed Alan Rickman with a fire extinguisher.Of course the kicker came at the end where Smith tries to play the "serious" card and lay out some "honest" criticism of Catholicism.
Too much of this film is trying to make a "serious" commment on religious dogma, and it tries to do so by ignoring what the catholic church and the bible actually says.
From an incredibly long, rambling story-line and pacing, to sub-standard acting (even by actors I've previously, and subsequently, enjoyed and/or admired in other films [Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Alan Rickman]), to its silly attempt at "deep thought" and imposing a certain "enlightenment" on the audience.
I always get the feeling that Kevin Smith is winking at his audience, smiling and thinking to himself, "Look at how CLEVER I can be!" and "Laugh Here, Now." This film in particular seems to be a circus trying to present itself as a stage-play, and in my opinion, not hiding the fact very well.
I'm not sure what I find harder to believe- the idea that people actually found this film funny, or the fact that it is considered controversial.
This would be fine if the dialogue was witty or insightful, but instead it's lots and lots of swearing (the word "f~ck loses it's already minimal impact after the fiftieth time you hear it in one scene), and supposedly deep religious discussions that are immature and sound as if they were written by a twelve year old who just became interested in theology.It's near impossible to see who this film appeals to- Smith shoots for pleasing all and ends up satisfying none.
Those who enjoy the childish, "Dude Where's My Brain" jokes will no doubt be crushingly bored when the characters decide to sit and talk inanely about something unfunny -AGAIN, while those who like the pathetic attempts at religious satire and discussion of the Catholic Church will cringe at the afore mentioned poo monster and a succession of equally puerile kindergarten comedy.
At one point, the protagonist, after another annoying rant (which I'm assuming is Smith's amateurish way of getting across how his characters feel, as this is an insanely whiny bunch of people) actually runs, drops on her knees in the rain, and screams up the sky `WHY, GOD!?!?!?!
This film is simply unwatchable.Upon seeing this film in the theatres I was fairly impressed with earlier Kevins Smith efforts Chasing Amy and Clerks, additionally I consider myself to be somewhat of a "recovering Catholic" with many of my own criticisms.During my viewing I couldn't believe how much my butt hurt or how often I looked at my watch.I can't think of one redeeming quality of this film whatsoever.
I am not a religious type so don't cast me off like that, this movie was horribly written and just boring at times.
Even so I still had plenty of laughs and loved the performance of God. If you like Smith's movies, your sure to get a laugh from this one..
There are about 800 reasons why you probably won't like Kevin Smith's 1999 offering 'Dogma.' It uses abnormally foul language.
It is a tiresome, flaccid affair, and the complete opposite of "Fight Club" in the two most important categories: I watched all of "Fight Club" (many times), and I would feel comfortable in calling "Fight Club" an actual film.Oh, was this movie torturous.
In "Dogma", you're watching various elements being cobbled together with no apparent sense of structure; Ben Affleck and Matt Damon appear to discuss religion (skipping actual dialogue), Alan Rickman materialises as an angel to talk about his two mischievous fellow angels (OMG PARADOX!) and Chris Rock appears to do...something.
Even when Kevin Smith remembers to give his actors a little to work with, ie real dialogue, it's....still not funny.
So boring and unfunny that during the movie I started to think about my dental surgery the next day (Yes, THAT bad!)There is no coherence in this story which thus renders this film into small little bits and sight-gags, most of which are puerile.
The biggest error in "Dogma" is that Kevin Smith did not adequately develop the story around the Bethany character (Linda Fiorentino) and instead focused on the many useless side characters.As for the Catholic angle--who cares!
As I was sitting there hearing all these people laugh at these boring, elementary kiddie type jokes it just really made me realize how bad movies like this get such good reviews.
There were wonderful films in this genre (religious comedy) - "Life of Brian" would be a good example - but this movie isn't one of them.
It has some good actors in it - notably Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Alan Rickman - but they were unable to save the film.
I really thought that Kevin Smith couldn't make a worse film than 'Chasing Amy' until I saw 'Dogma'.
But the film then goes on to be a a vehicle for modern political ideas that will one day probably be just as out of date as the catholic dogma that provided the foundation for this movie.
Were this movie made in the 60s, Smith would have the Angels making fun of Nixon and the War in Viet Nam. Too techincal to bug you like it did me, and not sensitive to poking fun at religion, you will find this movie very funny and full of great characters.
The acting is awful - really *awful* - by the end of the movie the few decent actors in the film looked like they weren't getting paid enough and were going through the motions.
The dialogue is painful and could have been written by a 15 year old who has just discovered that Santa Claus isn't real - and wants to tell the world.Contrary to reports, the movie isn't anti-religious (in fact it's pro-religion in that it takes the existence of God and Heaven as read) or even anti-Catholic (Catholicism has lost its way a bit but it's still the one true faith).This is the second time that the IMDb has got it seriously wrong - both this movie and 'Eyes Wide Shut' were given high ratings - and both are pretentious nonsense..
He is a writer first and a director second, and in a dialogue driven film like "Chasing Amy", thats all well and good, but not for Dogma.
Making a movie that aims at laughing at religion is in itself a delicate operation but Kevin Smith managed to get out very well of this deadlock.
Kevin Smith's Dogma is a fantastic satirical comedy that is filled with the comedy and religious attacks that only Smith can put in a movie (The Best on-screen duo of the decade Jay played by Jason Mewes and Silent Bob played by Smith return as mall rats turned prophets).
And that plus some new characters make this a great comedy.But the element that makes this the best Smith movie is not only the comedy.
It is a silly comedy that includes a hip priest (George Carlin makes a great cameo as this priest), a god (that we can assume is Canadian) and two angels that act like the usual guys in Smith films.
Kevin Smith has put together a movie which has managed to miss every important technical and spiritual aspect of good film-making.
Or, Chris Rock and Salma Hayek finding their moments of movie Zen. And, it's impossible to overlook the stellar contributions of Ben `I'll-never-be-too-big-to-do-one-for-Kevin' Affleck and Matt `talks-incredibly-fast-while-looking-incredibly-smug' Damon in this sure-to-be Oscar contender.Although Dogma isn't particularly anti-Catholic, it is anti-intelligence, offensive and an utter waste of time..
In an idle moment this weekend I started it up and couldn't get through more than a few scenes at a time without stopping to check basketball scores or get back to some much-needed house cleaning, which was still less of a chore than lengthy bouts of plot exposition dialogue between the Alan Rickman character and the preternaturally dull Linda Fiorentino.If a precocious Matt Damon explaining some trivial point of Roman Catholic legalism at a mall or an airport or whatever sounds cool, then this may be right up your alley.
(You're supposed to find it hilarious to hear two angels talking dude-talk.) ASIDE TO KEVIN SMITH: The Jay and Silent Bob act, after 4 movies, is really tired.
First of all, I am a big fan of Kevin Smith's movies, I have watched all "Jay and Silent Bob" and "clerks" movies around 10 times each.
So if you are like me and you found Dogma and said 'WOW another movie from Kevin Smith with my favorite characters, let's watch it', don't do the HUGE mistake that I made.
I cannot imagine that anyone would find this movie to be thought-provoking unless they have never done much thinking.It is as though Smith wanted people to watch his movie, but could not get attention by making a good one, so he lined up as many cheap shots against a popular religion as possible in order to get some attention.
"Dogma" is one of those movies that looks like it was thought up by drunks in a bar, and written on tape recorders by the same drunks.The comedy just isn't there.
The cast are all solid and Smith's work as director is functional as always given that he's essentially just recording people's conversations for the film's running time and attempting any artistry wouldn't suit the movies he's making.7/10.
But this is only if Bethany, with the aid of Jay and Silent Bob, cannot stop them first.The best thing that can be said about Dogma' is that it looks like everyone had a great time making it.
Dogma has plenty of funny religion-themed gags, but I was entertained by it mainly because I liked just about all of the characters and I enjoyed most of their dialogue.There's not a lot of substance behind what they're saying, unlike in, say, Tarantino's films, but the fact that it's all fairly low-brow and goofy is what makes it good.
Another great Kevin Smith movie.
Kevin Smith's style of using conversational humor and trying to make the audience feel like a fried of the characters in the movie doesn't really work with topical humor.
A hilarious movie.I can´t say how much I laughed at Jay and Silent Bob but It´s also a smart film with great screenplay.Good acting by stars like:Chris Rock, Ben Affleck Matt Damon.......
What more could you ask for in a Kevin Smith film.I took this movie in as a whole.
It has one of the funniest stories of all time which made me laugh almost all the way through the movie, even though I was the only one watching.
The actors were all doing a great job as the director Kevin Smith, the first movie I saw made by him. |
tt0230030 | Bedazzled | Stanley Moon (Moore) works in a Wimpy's restaurant and is infatuated with the waitress Margaret Spencer (Eleanor Bron). In despair he attempts suicide but is interrupted by the Devil, incarnated as George Spiggott (Cook). ("Mr Spiggott" had previously been one of the characters in the sketch One Leg Too Few).
Spiggott is in a game with God, trying to be the first to gather 100 billion souls. If he achieves this first, he will be readmitted to Heaven. He is also busy with minor acts of vandalism and spite, helped by his staff of the seven deadly sins, notably Lust (Raquel Welch) and Envy (Barry Humphries).
In return for his soul, Spiggott offers Stanley seven wishes. Stanley uses these trying to satisfy his love for Margaret, but Spiggott twists his words to frustrate him.
Stanley wishes to be more "articulate". George turns him into a talkative and pretentious intellectual with a strong Welsh accent. Margaret becomes an equally pretentious character, who enthusiastically agrees with all of Stanley's beliefs. Stanley stresses the importance of breaking free from one's social and moral constraints. When Stanley makes his move, however, she is horrified and starts screaming "rape".
In this wish, Stanley is a "multi-millionaire" and Margaret is his "very physical" wife, but it turns out she is "very physical" with anyone except him ... including George.
In the third wish, Stanley is a rock star. However, his fame is short lived, and is usurped by a new band whose lead singer (George) speaks flatly about his lack of interest in anyone except himself. Margaret is a vapid and excitable groupie, as happy to admire one as the other.
Stanley comments that he wishes he was "a fly on the wall" and George seizes on the opportunity to use up one of Stanley's wishes. They become flies on the wall in a morgue, where the inspector is showing Margaret various dead bodies, hoping that she will identify one as Stanley.
George promises Stanley a wish where he has a quiet life in the countryside, with children, and Margaret making the anniversary dinner. It soon becomes apparent, however, that Margaret is actually George's wife. While deeply in love, even the attempt to consummate their affection drives both Stanley and Margaret into emotional agony.
Stanley attempts to frame a wish that George cannot ruin: He wishes that he and Margaret loved one another, lived away from the big city, and would always be together. However, George turns him into a nun of the Order of Saint Beryl, or the Leaping Beryllians, who glorify their founder by jumping on trampolines (expanding on a sketch that appeared in Cook and Moore's Not Only... But Also). Margaret is also a nun in the order, but refuses to consummate their love as they are both women.
When Stanley tries to use his seventh wish, George reveals he has already used it: Before signing the contract, George offers him something to prove he is the Devil, and Stanley asked for a raspberry ice lolly. Stanley was unaware that this counted as a wish until he is unable to escape his sixth wish.
Ultimately, Spiggott spares Stanley eternal damnation because he has exceeded his quota of 100 billion and can afford to be generous. Stanley is returned to his old job and life, wiser and more clear-sighted. Spiggott goes to Heaven to meet God, but is rejected again; St Peter (Lockwood West) explains that when he gave Stanley back his soul, Spiggott did the right thing, but with the wrong motive.
In the closing scene, Stanley and Margaret are back in the restaurant. Stanley finally asks her out but she says she's already doing something, though she does suggest perhaps another night. Stanley smiles, happy that he has found the courage to talk to her. Spiggott tries to entice Stanley again, but Stanley turns him down. Spiggott leaves and threatens revenge on God by unleashing all the tawdry and shallow technological curses of the modern age:
"All right, you great git, you've asked for it. I'll cover the world in Tastee-Freez and Wimpy Burgers. I'll fill it full of concrete runways, motorways, aircraft, television and automobiles, advertising, plastic flowers and frozen food, supersonic bangs. I'll make it so noisy and disgusting that even you'll be ashamed of yourself. No wonder you've so few friends — you're unbelievable!" | romantic, alternate reality, satire | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0465538 | Michael Clayton | The film opens with the rabid ranting and raving of Arthur Eden's (Tom Wilkinson). Most of this speech is rambling and babbling. He begins talking about how one day he was leaving work and he walked out into the street into traffic and suddenly he found he could not move, even though there was traffic incoming. Essentially he tells us he was frozen in a moment of utter consternation brought on by the shambles he has made of his life doing what it is that he does. His work as an attorney helping a corrupt company defend the indefensible has left him where must break the shackles with his old life and try something new. In an office a legal team of dozens of people are diligently taking phone calls, shedding documents, comparing notes, etc. A lawyer talking to a reporter on the phone and walks over to Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack) and hands him the phone. He tells Bach that it's a reporter from the Wall Street Journal inquiring about the "settlement". Bach looks infuriated but takes the phone. He simply tells the reporter that "U-North is not settling at this time" and that nothing has changed in the legal case. The reporter remains dubious, but Bach says he does not care and simply hangs up the phone. Bach then asks about where Crowder went to. We then see Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) in the bathroom having what looks like a panic attack.The film cuts to a card game where we see Michael Clayton (George Clooney) at the table with a handful of other men. One of the men recognizes Clayton. He tells Clayton he knows him from a game they played some years back. Clayton looks up and admits he recognizes him. The player says he won a whole bunch of money off Clayton. The player continues to brag about winning a whole bunch of cash off Clayton and it clearly annoys him. Clayton says "I see you've bought some hair since then", but the other gambler retorts, "Yeah, with your money." Clayton leaves.Clayton is sent by a legal friend of his to the house of a man who desperately needs legal counsel. Clayton learns that the man hit a pedestrian and may have killed him earlier that night. Clayton explains to the man and his wife that his options are limited. Even though it may have been an accident, there are all sorts of variables that could affect the criminality of the case. Clayton tells the man he needs to find a good trial lawyer, because he is going to need one. The man becomes irate and asks, "What the hell are you supposed to be?" He wants to know why Clayton can't be his lawyer and he tells Clayton that he was promised a "miracle worker". Clayton tells him that is not the case. He explains what he does by calling himself a "janitor". Clayton is an overall strategic legal adviser. He has a tremendous acumen for understanding how to plan and execute a legal defense from start to finish even though he actually does not lead any of it. He merely advises. Clayton finally realizes there is nothing more he can give the man and leaves.As Clayton is driving he notices his car's GPS system is behaving erratically. As Clayton drives an intriguing sight catches his eye. He sees three horses standing on a hilltop together by themselves. Clayton is so captivated by this event he stops the car. Clayton approaches the horses and is fascinated by their presence in the middle of nowhere. Clayton's car suddenly explodes behind him and the horses charge off. Clayton is stunned and petrified for a few moments as he looks at the flaming wreck. When he finally regains his wits he runs away.The film cuts to four days earlier ......Clayton's son Henry (Austin Williams) is getting ready to go to school. Clayton is divorced from his wife and his son lives with her and his step-dad. Henry leaves the house and joins Clayton in his car. Clayton drives Henry to school. On the way Henry tells Clayton about all the fantasy novels he likes to read. He describes how the current one is about a bunch of characters that are in a universe where they each have a nemesis, but don't know who that person is so they can't trust anyone and just live for themselves. Clayton laughs and says, "That sounds familiar", obviously alluding to his own legal work.We next see Crowder, who is a head executive for U-North, is a tremendously large, corporate agricultural conglomerate that creates various types of substances to help better cultivate land for farming. As we observer her, the film cuts back and forth between her giving an interview on camera with her boss Don Jefferies (Ken Howard) and Crowder anxiously rehearsing the interview in her hotel room as she tries to prepare herself for it. The subject of Crowder's interview is about how she is taking Jefferies' old job as one of the head corporate managers. As she is giving the interview, an assistant walks in and interrupts them with what clearly appears to be a urgent matter. She tells them that Eden just stripped down in the middle of a deposition for their current legal battle. This is a dire matter, because Eden is handling the legal defense for this case involving a weed killer which is potentially toxic and lethal which stands to lose U-North billions of dollars.We then cut back to Clayton who is visiting an older man. The man is a "Bookmaker" who takes bets and handles local gambling operations. We learn of Clayton's severe gambling addiction. Clayton is in debt for a massive amount of money to the gamblers. He has sold off much of his possessions, but yet still is approximately $80,000 short of what he needs to settle his debt. The man tells Clayton that he had better pay up in a week or the consequences could be catastrophic.Clayton gets in contact with the head of his legal firm, Marty Bach. Bach informs Clayton of the situation with Arthur Eden who also works for the firm. Bach tells him of the disastrous ramifications of Eden's mental breakdown. Clayton says that Eden's episode is understandable given the amount of time and energy Eden has invested into this case. He basically says that for the last decade Eden has basically "lived" this case and his life is tumultuous and fractured because of it. This case is in many ways just as big of a deal for the legal firm as it is for U-North, because it coincides with a vital impending merger with a London-based firm. Clayton then agrees to head to Minnesota to meet with Eden who is currently being held in a police station.As Clayton arrives at the station we hear Crowder (who is at one of the U-North offices) discussing with some of her assistants Clayton's background. She learns from documents that Clayton used to be a major criminal prosecutor, but now has been seemingly relegated to a more menial task of handling "wills and trusts". Crowder seems baffled that Michael is the one being sent to handle the crisis with Eden. As she has been saying all this, we are watching Clayton arrive at the station and visiting Eden in a holding cell. He meets with Eden and learn more about Eden's crazed rambling from the start of the film. As Eden finishes his lengthy and deranged claims, Clayton becomes completely livid and says, "You stopped taking your pills again? Didn't you?", as he shows him the still clearly full bottle.Eden says he is no longer going to be a slave to his medication and that his eyes have been opened by a woman who is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against U-North named Anna. He claims that Anna is a beautiful, kind, and graceful soul and that he refuses to assist in the defense of a product against her and all the other people involved in the law suit knowing that it has really is a killer and how much pain it has caused them. Clayton can clearly see how grievous the situation is. Eden is potentially infatuated with one of the people he is supposed to be defending U-North from and may have caused irreparable damage to the suit in the process. He tries to remind Eden of his responsibilities and what he means to the firm, but Eden only responds to this by proclaiming, "I am Shiva The God of Death!". Realizing that Eden is incorrigible at this point and is causing a scene at the precinct which could potentially make things even worse than they are, Clayton persuades Eden to leave with him and return to his hotel room.The next day Clayton meets with Crowder who is extremely upset over all that has transpired with Eden. Clayton reassures Crowder that all will be fine. He tells her that Eden does have a history of mental illness, but that it has been largely regulated in recent years. He tells her that his last episode was several years ago and that it was not a major issue and Eden was able to continue his war largely unhindered. Clayton reminds Crowder how hard U-North has been pushing him on this case and how he has been near singularly devoted to this case for a long time now. Crowder however, seems full of antipathy over Clayton's claims and says that U-North has been paying Clayton's legal firm a very lucrative sum for Eden's time. Clayton simply reassures her that he will straighten Eden out and everything will return to its previous status. Crowder however, seems completely dubious about this.We then see Crowder back at the U-North office watching a videotape of Eden's episode from the deposition. Everything is going routinely until Eden suddenly stands up and begins spouting a bunch of rhetoric in a obstreperous tone about how Anna was right and how wrong he was. He tells her he doesn't want to continue this charade any longer. As he is saying all this he is stripping off all his clothes. The tape finally ends and we are informed that Eden then followed Anna into the parking lot outside totally naked. Crowder is deeply mortified and aghast as she realizes how damaging this tape could be to further legal proceedings. Especially given how Eden seemingly admits to U-Norths guilt in the case.The scene shifts back again to Eden in the hotel room at night, who has managed to contact Clayton's son Henry. Henry tells him about another new book he is reading called "Realm & Conquest". He says in this book the characters are experiencing visions of things that would seem too fantastic to possibly be real, but they challenge conventional opinions and choose to believe that these illusions are real and that they must believe in them regardless of what others deem to be true, Naturally Eden hears this books plot and it compels him to do the same and keep believing what he has come view U-North as, a corrupt company attempt to insulate themselves from their crimes.In the morning Eden tells Michael that he should go see Anna and he too will feel stimulated to stop trying to help U-North in perpetuating their lies. Clayton tries to assuage Eden and tells him to just take a shower so they can get ready to return to the legal firm in New York. However, Clayton gets occupied for a second and leaves Eden alone, When he comes back the bathroom door is locked. Clayton can hear the shower running, but when he knocks on the door there is no response. Finally, Clayton kicks the door down to discover Eden has fled. He goes over to the window and sees that Eden has left.Back at U-North Crowder learns of the new situation. We see her sitting at a desk looking over a document with an agitated expression. We see the document she is reading. It is an old scientific report from one of U-North's research teams about the hazardous effects of exposure to the weed killer involved in the law suit. It clearly documents that prolonged exposure to the substance can lead to cancer. As we see Crowder reading this document, she is contacting someone on the phone. It becomes immediately evident from the surreptitious tone of the discussion that this is some sort of private cabal of operatives that U-north uses to deal with problems in all sorts of nefarious ways.Meanwhile, Clayton returns to New York to meet with Bach. Bach is absolutely incensed over what has transpired. He tells Clayton that this affair could mean the end of the firm. He says that if the case goes under that U-North could potentially sue the firm for their legal incompetence and ruin them. With the merger coming the situation is even more grave. Bach asks Clayton why he just didn't have Eden committed in Minnesota and says that would've helped quell the problems for the time being until things could be ameliorated. Clayton tells Bach that it is not that simple and that involuntary commitment to a mental facility is a very arduous procedure. Mary asks Clayton "Well don't we have anyone who knows a lot about these types of commitment cases?". Clayton says yes, but informs Bach that the person who is the expert unfortunately is Eden.Eden has also returned to New York and is now roaming freely. He is living a reclusive lifestyle in a private apartment. However, the men hired by U-North are already watching him. They are tracking his movements around the city, have bugged his phone and are surveilling his actions. All the while they are keeping Crowder abreast of important developments.During this time Michael pays a visit to Anna in an attempt to see if he can gain more information about the case. He arrives at a farm in Minnesota. After introducing himself to the family, he taken to meet the woman with whom Eden has become so enamored Anna (Merritt Wever). Clayton gains some more information about Eden and the case. She seems puzzled as to why Eden seems to have been selected to communicate with her when there are over four hundred other people suing U-North. Anna seems rather oblivious of how personally connected Eden is to her.Soon thereafter Eden again contacts Anna over the telephone. He hints to her that he has more information about her case and he will contact her again in the near future about the matter. Anna still seems perplexed and feels awkward about being contacted by the man formerly leading the U-North defense assisting her.Back in New York Bach notifies Clayton about Eden getting in contact with Anna again. It has now become clear that Eden wont abandon this matter and he sends Clayton to go to Eden's location and try to reason with him one last time.Clayton confronts Eden on the street. Eden seems startled, but greets Clayton. Clayton however, is in no mood for pleasantries and is still enraged over Eden's continuing erratic and irrational behavior. Clayton mentions about Eden going to visit Anna again and how idiotic this was. Eden immediately becomes suspicious of how Clayton could possibly have become privy to a private phone call he made to Anna. He inquires to Clayton about this and Clayton responds that Bach told him. He then accuses U-North and the legal firm of colluding together to tap his phone. Clayton tells Eden this is absolutely preposterous and says the most logical answer is that Anna contacted the police herself after Eden called her. Eden disputes this saying that Anna would never betray him like that, but Michael tells Eden this is lunacy. He says after the crazy antics Eden pulled at the deposition, stripping down before Anna and shouting all sorts of psychotic things, it would only be expected she would contact the police. Eden as previously seems totally innocuous to Clayton's continuing reproach and his attempts to reason with him.Finally Clayton makes threats about the state of Eden's sanity and how his recent behavior could lead to him being hospitalized, but Eden still clearly retains his knowledge of legal matters. He tells Clayton that this is New York and here he has no criminal record or history of threatening behavior both of which are critical for compulsory treatment. He says that now that he is out of Minnesota, that Clayton can no longer use prior incidents there to try and go after him in this state. Clayton finally concedes that he cannot win here and leaves.Later that night Eden is in his apartment. He makes a tape of one of U-Norths commercials. He then plays this tape as he makes a phone call, correctly knowing that the U-North agents are listening. He plays the commercial and then begins reading in a sardonic tone to them the scientific report from earlier in the film. As he reads it, he mocks the company and the consequences the report could have. The agents are shocked to learn that Eden has this document in his possession. The agents meet with Crowder. When she hears the tape she becomes very perturbed. She asks the agents what can be done. They make some suggestions about additional measures, but then Crowder subtly implies she wants them to go much further than just mere subterfuge. U-North agents enter Eden's apartment, drug him, and inject a drug under his toenail, killing him. They then arrange a suicide scene.Michael Clayton is notified about Eden's death at a police station. The police detective tells Clayton that it looks like a possible suicide or accidental overdose. Clayton is confounded and doesn't believe that Eden would kill himself, but the policemen reminds him about Eden s perverse behavior in recent weeks. Clayton asks if he can go to Eden's apartment, but the officer says this is impossible and the place has been sealed. Clayton meets with his fellow legal employees. There he tells Bach that Eden was onto something and Clayton feels it is linked to his death. Clayton tells Bach that he desperately needs a loan. Bach promises Clayton he will look into the loan and given what a valuable asset Clayton has been to the firm he should be able to convince them to help him out. Bach also notifies Clayton that Eden was scheduled to meet with Anna in New York.After contacting Anna's sister and learning of Anna's location Clayton arrives at a hotel where she is staying. Clayton inquires with Anna about the final conversation she and Eden had. Anna says Eden told her he has an item in his possession which could win the case for her. Clayton now becomes more convinced Eden's death was no mere suicide.Clayton goes to a family gathering at his sister's house. His brothers Timmy Clayton (David Lansbury) and Raymond Clayton (Kevin Hagan) are there. Timmy is a recovering substance abuser and the two have a rather uncomfortable confrontation over this, which Clayton's son Henry witnesses. Clayton also talks with his brother Ray (who is a policeman) about needing a possible favor regarding Eden's death. After the party, Clayton talks with Henry and says that his son doesn't have to worry about going astray in life like Timmy did and that he believes in him.Clayton then meets with his brother Ray who provides him with keys to Eden's apartment. Ray reminds Clayton that this is a serious issue and Clayton cannot get caught. Eden's apartment is still watched by the U-North operatives and they watch him enter. Clayton searches Eden's apartment and finds a copy of "Realm and Conquest", the book Clayton's son Henry was reading. When Clayton opens it, a slip of paper falls out. It is a receipt from a copy store which shows Eden ordered copies of a memorandum. Shortly afterward cops arrest Clayton.Raymond gets Clayton out of jail, but is angry because Clayton's illegal entry might be connected to Ray. Clayton tells Ray someone set him up at Eden's place and that they called the cops. Following this Clayton goes to the printing place with Eden's receipt. There he finds out that Eden has ordered 3000 copies of: the confidential U-North report. He tells the clerk to hold onto the documents for him and takes one with him. As he leaves, the U-North operatives arrive and learn about the copies. They then tell Crowder about the copies. She realizes she must do something immediately before Clayton finishes what Eden started.Clayton meets with Bach who gives him a check with the money needed to pay off his gambling debt. With the check, Clayton signs a 3-year contract that binds him to secrecy about past and future events. Clayton visits the man to pay what his gambling debt, and then plays cards in a underground card game for a few minutes. From this point the film recaps the opening moments of the film. Clayton leaving the card game, but this time we also see the U-North agents putting an explosive bomb into his car. Since Clayton leaves the game early they didn't finish hooking the bomb up, which apparently interfered with his GPS signal. The two U-North operatives following him experience difficulty tracking the device's signal. Clayton reverses direction and then takes a side road, and they agents lose him. They trigger the bomb, not knowing Clayton is not in the car. Clayton runs back to the flaming car and throws his wallet, watch and other personal belongings inside. A short time later Clayton's brother Timmy picks him up.The staff at Clayton's law firm is notified of Clayton's supposed death from a car bomb. In a hotel theatre, Crowder presents a case for settling the law suit to U-North executives. She says the timing for a settlement has improved due to recent events and that the cost will be offset by tax benefits. Jefferies asks her to leave while they discuss the proposed settlement. Crowder steps outside and is slack-jawed to see Michael Clayton standing before her, thinking he is dead. Clayton tells her that "Arthur is around here somewhere." He shows Crowder the report and tells her how foolish she was to try and eliminate him. He tells her it would've been far easier and more prudent to just buy him off and tells Crowder he wants "10". Clayton tells her to either pay up or he will go public with the report. Crowder asks him what he wants. She asks him if there "is a number?" She says, "10 million?" He offers 5 to "forget about Eden," which she says would be easier. And then he says the "other 5 is to forget about the other 468 people you knocked off with your weed killer." He forces her to repeat the terms of the bribe, and she tells him, "You have a deal."Jefferies emerges from the conference room and asks Crowder to rejoin the board meeting. She finally agrees to Clayton's terms for the payoff, he promptly responds, "You're so fucked.". Crowder, confused, asks, "You don't want the money?" Clayton says. "Wait, let me get a picture of this!" and takes a picture of her with his cell phone. He then begins to walk away. Jefferies asks who Clayton is, and Clayton responds, quoting Eden, "I am Shiva The God of Death!" Jefferies becomes irate and calls for security to seize Clayton. Crowder slumps to the floor in shock and dismay. A group of police officers walk past Clayton and instead move to arrest Crowder and Jefferies. Clayton asks his brother Ray, "Did you get all that?" Clayton thanks him for helping him out. Clayton walks outside and gets in a taxi. He gives the driver $50 and tells him to "just drive". As the taxi drives away the credits roll. | mystery, murder, dramatic, intrigue, flashback, insanity, storytelling | train | imdb | But in the case of Michael Clayton, the film focuses most of its attention on the questionable moral quagmire of working for guilty clients, living your life protecting those who you can't help but find reprehensible, wanting to get out, but finding you are good at it and that is where your superiors want you.
Michael Clayton isn't a revelatory film, but it is a smart one that deals in the grey world that we all live in, not the black and white one legal films are usually about.The central character is Michael Clayton (George Clooney), a "fixer" at a major Manhattan law firm.
Things are not rosy for Michael right now: his addict brother has run a business venture that Michael was a partner in into the ground, leaving Michael with thousands of dollars in debt; his relationship with his ex-wife is on the rocks, and into this environment comes a whole new caliber of problem: Michael's friend, and fellow attorney, Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson), who is a lead attorney for a major case for the firm involving U/North, a huge, multifaceted corporation, has discovered evidence damning to U/North, and has also, seemingly, lost his senses.Arthur begins plotting to publicly expose U/North with this evidence, thereby destroying them, something that U/North's lead corporate attorney, Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), cannot allow.
It is debatable whether Arthur is mentally unhinged, or simply woken up to the reality of his actions and what they mean in the grander scheme of things.Michael Clayton is the directorial debut of Tony Gilroy, a longtime Hollywood screenwriter, who crafts a film that manages to keep you involved like a good thriller without providing many of the requisite elements: chases, shootouts and fisticuffs.
(The moment where, after Michael's son has seen a beloved uncle who's an addict come groveling for forgiveness, he stops the car and lets the boy know he's stronger than that uncle is so right and so perfect, I nearly wept.) And Tilda Swinton's litigator, Karen Crowder, is so desperate and unsure, you can almost understand why she makes some of the decisions she does.
And Tom Wilkinson blazes across the screen as Arthur Edens, who has finally seen the evil within himself and wants to make it right but who, despite all his legal brilliance, is still naive enough to think he can get away with it.The direction is taut, cinematography and editing cool and precise, and all are at the service of an elegant work that uses the suspense genre to illuminate a filthy world that has been glossed over by money and power.
It builds slowly, it features the key characters in sometimes agonising close-up, it weaves an intricate plot (a bit too intricate, in hindsight -- I'm still not sure why some events were included), and George Clooney is masterful as the morally conflicted character who does his best to hold his collapsing life together, while slowly realising that his role in life is not quite what he thought it was in any case.There are some things this film is not.
It's reality rather than escapism.If you like suspense, unflinching realism, stories of moral conflict, criticisms of corporate America, or George Clooney -- or if you're just in the mood to see that kind of film -- you'll love it.
But it has the potential to be worse because this company is guilty as sin and will do anything to limit the liability and keep their good name.Michael Clayton was nominated for a flock of Oscars including Best Actor for George Clooney as a much flawed hero.
Saw this at a screening at the Toronto Int'l Film Festival.This movie is appropriately titled "Michael Clayton" because in it we are introduced to the man in his many life roles; father, ex-husband, brother, son, friend and businessman.
For a fairly busy plot with numerous sub-characters, he did a good job of turning over pieces of the puzzle to bring the audience back full circle to the opening scene.Michael Clayton fixes things, but we see in his own personal life there are a trail of problems he's dealing with.
I think Clooney has long been an interesting performer but this role is just one of his best - dedicated, sometimes mysterious, loving and charming; even funny and sad.You may look for more in the story line but you may miss the best part if you don't accept that the people are the story once the movie gets rolling.8 of 10.
Michael Clayton is about the character trying to deal with his hand of fate, which is pretty dire: he's 45, working for 17 years for a law-firm where he's a "fixer", cleaning up the problems that can't be solved through simple litigations.
Murder, wire-taps, cover-ups, bombs, and at the core the placidity of a straight-laced face (Tilda Swinton), are all apart of the not-too-complicated puzzle.It goes without saying that there is a little more than some debt that Gilroy owes to Network, if only in the face-value to be taken from the characters: the weathered professional, the nut who really has ecstatic truth in the Herzog sense, the cold and exacting woman, and the guy working as a top dog behind the scenes.
And you thought the Bourne movies- co-written by Gilory- were tense genre pieces.What makes a film like Michael Clayton end up as memorable as it is, almost essential for those wanting to go to the movies for a serious drama without pretense or extreme melodrama, is the script and the performances.
And it's something as literate as this that allows for actors to go for what they can do best: for Wilkinson, Oscar worthy to a T, it's both subtle and over-the-top with Arthur, at one point making a masterful stroke of carrying loaves of bread; Swinton makes the careful act of preparation and looking at a mirror like it's everything to the character; Pollack, solid as usual, not too much to say.Then there's Clooney.
Tony Gilroy, the screenwriter of "The Bourne" trilogy, revisits the saint-or-sinner theme in "The Devil's Advocate" and brings an excellent script that is full of precise dialog and intense sequences.Michael Clayton, the senior lawyer in his firm, has fixed up many troubling cases which might not be considered as justice methods.
In this case, Clooney's excellent work is in evidence, but also watch for an Oscar-worthy turn from Tom Wilkinson, and a powerful, edgy performance by Tilda Swinton.Michael Clayton is perfectly paced, and complex without being confusing.
The director, Tony Gilroy, chooses lingering and steady shots over in the jumbled, shaky hand-held style that is currently so in vogue -- and his choice works well as the tension and drama build to a climactic, and terrific, final act.In my opinion, if George Clooney keeps himself in the right direction he will definitely take another Oscar.Entertainment: 9.7/10Overall Score: 9.5/10.
A few secrets of this film's success, as far as performances go, I believe, are the followings: 1) the likable nature of George Clooney's character 2) the absolutely non-penetrative nature of the character of Tilda Swinton 3) the wonderful madness of the character of Tom Wilkinson 4) the cold-blooded charm of the character of Sydney Pollack.
It was pretty simple story that tried to appear complex.I think there were great individual acting performances, but I think something was lacking in the relationships between the story's main characters, which made it not compelling enough.One of the biggest reasons for the lack of suspense is that the flash-forward opening killed any possibilities of suspense in the movie's later scenes.
Michael Clayton is like a throwback to the days when movies actually had a story instead of just explosions and computer graphics, and that is a really good thing.
The problem is they like words, words feel nice on paper and they end up over-burdening the director since words don't necessarily translate well in terms of visual and space narratives.Michael Clayton and Duplicity were two movies with a very interesting premise, a promising cast, and a very unimpressive result.
In New York, the divorced attorney Michael Clayton (George Clooney) has been working for many years fixing messy situations for the law firm Kenner, Back and Odeen.
When the brilliant attorney Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) that has been ahead of the U-North case, a complicated three billion dollars lawsuit, for six years has a nervous breakdown and is arrested naked in a parking area in Milwaukee, Michael tries to help his friend, and is involved in an evil scheme plotted by Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), the legal counsel of U-North.The low-paced "Michael Clayton" is a good but overrated thriller tailored for George Clooney, who is perfect performing his complex and ambiguous character.
However, I am not sure whether I was not paying much attention, but I found the screenplay confused and in the end something was missing to make "Michael Clayton" a great movie.
The scene where Swinton is discussing with one of her hired hands how to handle a very unpleasant situation, and she is deciding whether to "do the other thing," is wonderfully written and performed.The musical score accentuates but does not intrude.This well-crafted examination of greed, power, and fear in high places, and the effects those powerful forces have on the participants, makes "Michael Clayton" an absorbing movie..
its amazing the pace of these movies and the reality of life they reflect.On to Michael Clayton, Nothing big new on the plot, and the truth that personal guilt will make you change and will not let you do the wrong thing.
Michael Clayton (2007) ** (out of 4) George Clooney plays the title character, a "fixer" for various law firms whose latest case might just destroy everyone involved including himself.
It Enters the Psyche and will Not Leave until You Give it its Due.The People that brought You this decidedly Different Masterpiece of Movie Making are Writer/Director Tony Gilroy, Indelible Screen Performances from George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, and Sydney Pollack and Supporting Roles that every Actor Nailed.A Welcome, Against the Grain Film that Restores the thing that the most Popular form of Entertainment in modern History can be at its Best.
It's no wonder that this was not much of a box office hit when released last fall.I'd lament the previous stuff just mentioned were it not for the fact that,after seeing it,I know that this is a very adult,sober and intelligent story(written by the director,long-time scribe and first time helm Tony Gilroy)and that basically this probably wasn't even really MEANT to be a widely grasped,popularity-sucking film.The title character is a low-level "mop-up guy" for a powerful NYC law firm and he(George Clooney,muted and cool) and his latest assignment for the firm is to "reign in" the chief litigator (Tom Wilkinson),who lost it during a class action deposition in Milwaukee.
Lost among the acting nominees Clooney,Wilkinson and Swinton (and kind of unfairly so) are Sydney Pollack as the soulless senior partner of the firm and Austin Williams as Clayton's bright and insightful grade school age son.This is a movie for people who like their films to have story and trust the audience is mature enough to understand that problems,crises and conflict can take place under VERY ordinary circumstances,with consequences and effects that go much deeper into the psyche and can have quiet but undeniably lasting effects.
In the dramatic story arc George Clooney as attorney Michael Clayton goes down the throat of Senior In-House Counsel Karen Crowder (played by Tilda Swinton), "Do I look like I'm negotiating!" Clooney is powerful and riveting in Director and Writer Tony Gilroy's "Michael Clayton".
It is a great movie.George Clooney plays Michael Clayton, who is an attorney for Kenner, Bach & Ledeen, one of the largest and most prestigious law firms in New York.
A gripping, intelligent thriller about what can happen when a killer shark lawyer grows a conscience, MC boasts one of George Clooney's most powerful performances to date, as well as a stark, sleek, stunning directorial debut for screenwriter Tony Gilroy.A "fixer" or as he bitterly refers to himself, a "janitor" at New York law firm Kenner, Bach & Ledeen, Clooney's Michael is like a Cary Grant whose life is falling apart along with his confidence.
So please resist the urge to turn off the movie...I felt a bit like doing this early on in the story.Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is a fixer...a lawyer whose job it is to make clients' problems disappear.
Still, it is good....just don't expect it's great...which all the nominations would seem to imply.By the way, one of the little things about the film I loved was the scene where Clayton needed to kick in a door.
It's a shame that he did not receive more screen time.Perhaps I built it up too much, given the good reviews and Oscar nominations, but I fail to see how Michael Clayton is anything more than a typical legal film that tries too hard to be an edgy thriller.
Although women across the world will probably still drool at his magnetism here in this film, he pulls this engrossing movie along and carries most if not all of its weight.The story surrounds a pair of attorneys, Michael Clayton (Clooney) and Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson, THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE) who are employed as "janitors" at a powerhouse law firm.
Coming to the end of his career, the weight of his decisions are heavy upon him and we can feel his dire wish to find a smidgin of good in his final days ("I am Shiva, the god of death.") Tilda Swinton plays Karen Crowder, the firm's new lead attorney for the case abandoned by Arthur (Wilkinson).
George Clooney plays the role of Michael Clayton -a legal firms downtrodden dogs body.While struggling to juggle the many aspects of his life- friends , family , money , and work he becomes involved in the dark underworld of business.
As a result of this , by the end of the movie ,you are left with the feeling that you don't know Michael Clayton any better than you did after the first 10 minutes of the film.
This is unusual film as its a legal drama without a single courtroom scene.Michael Clayton(George Clooney) is not a normal lawyer.His role at a prestigious New York lawyer firm is a fixer.He works behind the scenes to make scandals go away.In the process, he has lost sight of who he is.He is mired in debt, divorced and he gambles.We never see him relaxed or at peace during the film.His chance at redemption appears when one of the firms senior lawyer loses his marbles during a deposition of a witness in a case.The lawyer,Arthur Eden(Tom Wilkinson)has gone off message.Clayton has to bring him around, there are millions (and jobs) at stake.Tilda Swinton gives a great performance as the in house lawyer for the chemical company being sued.You know that this highly strung woman is just a few crises away from cracking up under the strain.The film is a commentary on corporate culture and goals,and the lengths that people will go to achieve their goals.
Think Three Days of the Condor, which was also about company/Company (CIA) culture and you get my meaning.As a nod to the those 1970s thrillers, we even have the great director Sydney Pollack in the cast, playing one of the firm's senior partners.Clooney portrays a man who is drowning, but has enough humanity left to save himself.Well worth a look, if you like films that take their time, and does not spell everything out to you.Classy!.
Arthur Edens (Wilkinson) knows the truth about the organic company and will do almost anything in bringing down C.E.O. Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) after a guilty conscience.The clock is ticking for Clayton as he must do what he can in helping Edens while getting the feeling that Crowder and her people will do what they can in making sure that the guilty conscience lawyer doesn't speak.With the film at nearly two hours, each of the three principal actors do a good job in their performances.
Michael Clayton, despite wonderful, sincere performances by George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, and Tom Wilkinson, is alternately confusing and overwrought, and once the bells and whistles of the extraneous plot devices are stripped it’s no better or worse than a standard John Grisham adaptation.
Tony Gilroy, who has scripted all three Jason Bourne adaptations recently and helped revive the spy genre, has his directorial debut of his script in Michael Clayton, and the results are nothing short of spectacular with a story that hearkens back to the conspiracy laden, morality plays of the 1970's and passionate acting to boot by a strong cast.Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is a fixer of problems for a leading law firm which experiences a crisis as its leading legal mind, Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) has a breakdown as he defends an industrial giant, U-North, from a multi-billion dollar lawsuit.
'Michael Clayton,' the directorial debut of screenwriter Tony Gilroy ("The Bourne trilogy"), is a mature, intelligent and polished corporate/legal thriller, featuring excellent performances from George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton and Sydney Pollack.
George Clooney never became Michael Clayton for me, and so the other characters, as well-acted as they were, continued to feel like props, not people.
What with performances from every actor being praised and pushed for Oscar, first-time director Tony Gilroy getting a pat on the back from everyone he encountered; Michael Clayton was that rare film that everyone enjoyed.
It is so rare these days that we are given a really good mystery at the movies, that when we see one its like being given a great big gift.Michael Clayton (the character) is a fixer at a large law firm that has been working on a case for a major corporation called UNorth for six years.
In this movie George Clooney has a similar type of role, a former cop and attorney Michael Clayton that works for a big law firm.
George Clooney is "Michael Clayton" in this 2007 film about a man with the somewhat thankless job of putting out fires for his legal firm. |
tt0059124 | Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine | As the film opens, we see numerous shots of San Francisco. We soon see a young brunette woman, clad in a trenchcoat and fedora. She seems a tad over-dressed for the weather, but stranger things happen regarding her:- As she walks into the middle of a street, a car hits her, but it is the car that falls apart.
- Two men attempt to leave the scene of a bank robbery. Encountering the woman, they shoot at her, but she just keeps right on going.
- In a small cafeteria, she drinks a glass of milk, and the liquid pours from the bullet holes in her body and trenchcoat!It is in the cafeteria, that she encounters a young man named Craig Gamble (Frankie Avalon). However, she claims he is named Todd Armstrong. Craig tries to deny this, but she insists on going back to his place, which just so happens to be a small one-bedroom apartment.Meanwhile, we suddenly find ourslves inside the lair of Dr Goldfoot (Vincent Price), and his assistant Egor (Jack Mullaney). Goldfoot is incensed that his bikini girl that Craig is with (who has said to him her name is 'Diane'), has hooked up with the wrong Todd Armstrong! Goldfoot then orders his girl (known as Number 11), to get out of there.As Craig watches, Number 11's vocal pitch changes, and she storms out of his room, leaving him wanting her even more.Diane then goes back to the street, and encounters the real Todd Armstrong, a very rich bachelor. She manages to charm him, and they take off for his place.Meanwhile, Craig has been obsessed with finding Diane, and calls the directory assistance, but gets nowhere (since all he has is Diane's first name, there's no way to find her). Soon after, Craig is angrily called into the office of his Uncle, Donald. Both of the relations work for Secret Intelligence Command (SIC), and Donald is upset at Craig's obsession with Diane, as well as the fact that he is known as 'Double-O-and-a-half.' Uncle Donald then demands that Craig work on helping SIC, and raise his title to at least a digit, instead of a fraction.Meanwhile, Number 11 has conned Todd Armstrong into marrying her, and their wedding makes a magazine cover, where Craig sees her, and is heart-broken.Back at his secret lair, Dr Goldfoot begins sending out more of his girls, each one programmed to do as Number 11 has done: snare a rich husband, get him to sign over his fortune to them, and then Dr Goldfoot will collect once the girls are through.In the wake of his marriage to Number 11, Todd has given her a large diamond ring, but is upset when she sleeps in a separate bed then him, and with a screen dividing them on their honeymoon. Diane claims it's because her batteries were low, and Todd just dismisses this as ridiculous. She then asks for Todd to give her a wedding present, requesting he sign over several of his stocks and holdings to her.Diane then takes the signed forms, and leaves Todd, telling him to go to work.Out of the street, Craig sees Diane, and attempts to talk to her, but she claims she has no idea who he is. As he attempts to take her off the street, Dr Goldfoot appears, and tugs Diane into a car, leaving Craig sprawled on the sidewalk, with Diane's left hand left behind!In his car, Goldfoot is at first pleased with Diane's work, until he finds that even though they have Armstrong's holdings, he did not sign over his power of attorney to her! Goldfoot then informs Diane that she will need to be punished.Craig eagerly tells his Uncle Donald, but he simply assumes his nephew is crazy. Remembering the name of the mortuary on the side of Goldfoot's car, Craig heads out there, where he sees his assistant Igor disappearing into a coffin. Craig follows him, and finds the Dr's secret lair, along with his bikini machine, and seeing Diane being tortured. Igor quickly discovers Craig, but not before he manages to escape.Returning to his Uncle's office, Craig attempts to tell what he's seen, but his Uncle claims he's busy, with one of SIC's head officers. However, Craig recognizes Igor in disguise, but both his Uncle and Igor claim he's nuts.Realizing that noone will believe him, Craig then goes to Diane's fiance, Todd. Todd naturally doesn't believe Craig's claims that Diane is a robot, until Craig shows him Diane's severed hand (complete with wedding band!).The two then decide to team up, pretty sure that Diane will return to get Todd to sign over Power of Attorney to her. Craig hides in a secret room, as Todd waits for Diane. Eventually, she does appear, making the chain-lock open automatically, before requesting he come with her to the bedroom. As she makes a request for his signature for Power of Attorney, Todd attempts to yell for Craig, but Diane quickly kisses him, and convinces him to sign. No sooner has he finished signing the form, then she quickly changes into a new outfit, and literally 'disappears' through the front door, the effect of which causes Todd to faint. Craig is also incapacitated, as he has delved into Todd's secret bar hidden behind the wall.Once the two come to, Craig feels bad that he didn't hear Todd's cry, but Todd claims they still pulled one over on Dr Goldfoot: he signed a name on the Power of Attorney line, but Craig's, so that Diane still has no way to get the money for Goldfoot.Once again, Craig attempts to convince his Uncle Donald that something is going on, even bringing Todd to back up his claims, but as the previous times, there is no convincing his Uncle.Craig and Todd then head to Dr Goldfoot's mortuary, where they are soon caught by the doctor and his assistant. Goldfoot shows the two his bikini machine, and then has them sit down for dinner, with Diane in attendance (albeit only able to speak and understand Japanese now!).After their dinner, Goldfoot then attempts to get Todd to sign the forms giving him 'Power of Attorney,' but Todd still refuses, having Goldfoot place him underneath a large, lowering pendulum. Luckily, Craig manages to trick Igor into letting him go. He rescues Todd, and the two take off in the Dr's Cadillac, with Goldfoot and Igor in hot pursuit in a motorcycle and sidecar.The chase leads them all over San Francisco, before both the Doctor and Igor drive off a cliff near some Naval Practice grounds, where they and their vehicle are destroyed.In the aftermath, Todd feels that he and Craig need a vacation, and the two decide to jet off to Paris. However, once they are airborne, the two are shocked by three things:1. Diane is onboard as a stewardess
2. Uncle Donald is onboard, supposedly by way of Diane
3. Dr Goldfoot and Igor can be see, chuckling maniacally from the cockpit doorway. | comic | train | imdb | null |
tt1859650 | To Rome with Love | To Rome with Love follows four different concurrent but unrelated plotlines taking place in the Eternal City.American tourist Hayley falls in love and becomes engaged to Italian pro bono lawyer Michelangelo while spending a summer in Rome. Her parents, Jerry and Phyllis, fly to Italy to meet her fiancé and his parents. Jerry happens to hear Giancarlos (Michelangelo's father) beautiful operatic voice while the latter sings in the shower. As a former admittedly avant-garde and critically reviled opera director, Jerry feels inspired to bring Giancarlos gift to the public. Although Giancarlo protests that he sings for himself and doesnt want to go professional, Jerry pushes the issue until Giancarlo agrees to audition in front of a room of opera bigwigs. Outside the safety of his shower, Giancarlos confidence abandons him. He makes faces and he is humiliated. Michelangelo, who attended the audition too, accuses Jerry of using his father to achieve some level of fame for himself. It occurs to Jerry that Giancarlo, like most people, sings the most confidently when he has some measure of privacy. In Giancarlos case, he performs best in his shower. Giancarlo, naked but for a towel, premieres at the Teatro dellOpera di Roma. Jerry has built him a shower onstage, and Giancarlo sings as he washes. The opera attendees love his strange performance, so Jerry and Giancarlo decide to stage Pagliacci, shower and all. Again, Giancarlos rich voice mesmerizes the crowd, and he receives rave reviews though Jerry's direction is once again utterly reviled, a fact he is not aware of since he doesn't understand Italian. Giancarlo decides to retire from opera singing, because he prefers working as a mortician and spending time with his family though he appreciates being given the chance to live his dream of performing Pagliacci.Newlyweds Antonio and Milly move from their rustic hometown to Rome because Antonios posh uncles have offered him a job in their familys business. The couple check into their hotel, and Milly decides to pop down to the salon to fix her hair. When the concierge informs her that theres no available appointments, Milly decides to go to a nearby salon but becomes hopelessly lost. When she attempts to answer a call from Antonio, she accidentally drops her phone through the slats of a sewer grate. Defeated, Milly eventually sits down on the edge of a fountain. When she looks up she sees one of her favorite actresses, Pia Fusari, about to shoot a scene. Pia invites Milly to watch her film, and Milly becomes even more excited when she learns her celebrity crush Luca Salta is also in the film. After the scene wraps, Pia introduces Milly to Luca, who invites Milly out to lunch with him.Meanwhile, Antonio is back at their hotel. Hes desperate to find Milly, because his relatives will soon arrive to take them out to lunch. Someone knocks at the door, and, thinking that Milly has returned, he rushes to answer it in his underwear. Anna, a prostitute, bursts into his room. She has mistaken him for a client, and she refuses to leave until they have sex. Anna wrestles Antonio to the bed, but his relatives interrupt them before anything untoward happens. His uncles mistake Anna for Milly, and when it becomes too complicated to explain the truth, Antonio goes along with the ruse. He convinces Anna to pretend shes Milly for the afternoon. Eventually the group dines at the same restaurant that Luca takes Milly. Antonio seethes with jealousy as Luca flirts with Milly. Lastly, Antonios uncles and aunts take him to a fancy party so he can meet important Italian dignitaries. Antonio has nothing in common with the men his uncles introduce him to; coincidentally, most of the male guests are Annas clients. Anna and Antonio go for a walk in the garden, and Antonio talks about how pure and good Milly is. When Anna finds out he was a virgin before he met Milly, she seduces him in the bushes.Luca brings Milly to his hotel room. He also tries to seduce her. Luca complements Milly's charm, but she doesnt know if she can cheat on Antonio. She goes into the bathroom to get some perspective, and she ultimately decides to have sex with Luca. As Milly strips, a man with a gun jumps out of the shower. He takes Milly into the bedroom and demands that she and Luca give him their money and their jewelry. Suddenly, Lucas wife and her private investigator begin banging on the hotel rooms door. Mrs. Salta wants photographic proof of her husbands indiscretions, and the prospect of divorce frightens Luca more than the burglar. Milly and the burglar climb into bed and fool Mrs. Salta into believing the hotel room is theirs while Luca hides in the bathroom. Once his wife has left, Luca runs off, and the burglar begins flirting with Milly. She has sex with him instead. When she returns to the hotel room, she and Antonio decide to return to their rustic hometown. Their love life has been reinvigorated.Leopoldo lives a mundane life with his wife and two children. The best part of his day is watching his bosss beautiful secretary Serafina walk around the office. Inexplicably, he wakes up one morning to discover that he has become a national celebrity. Paparazzi document his every movement. Reporters ask him what hes had for breakfast, if he wears boxers or briefs, whether he thinks it will rain. Leopoldo even becomes a manager at his company, and Serafina sleeps with him. He begins dating models and attending fancy film premieres. The constant attention wears on him, though. One day, in the middle of interviewing Leopoldo, the paparazzi spot a man who looks more interesting, and they abandon Leopoldo. At first, Leopoldo welcomes the return to his old life. But one afternoon he breaks down when no one asks for his autograph. Leopoldo has learned that life can be monotonous and wearying whether one is a celebrity or a normal man. Still, its much better to be a weary celebrity than it is to be a weary regular man.John, a well-known architect, and his wife are visiting Rome with friends. John lived there some thirty years ago, and hed rather check out his old haunts than go sightseeing with the others. John meets Jack, an American architecture student, while hes looking for his old apartment building. Jack happens to live there and invites John up to the apartment he shares with his girlfriend Sally. Sally tells Jack that she invited her best friend Monica to stay with them while she recovers from a rough breakup. According to Sally, Monica gives off a sexual vibe that drives men crazy. John predicts Monica will bring trouble, but Jack cant imagine why he would be attracted to his girlfriends best friend. Monica arrives, and one of her first conversations with Jack is about her intense sexual relationship with a lingerie model. Because Sally has classes, she often asks Jack to show Monica around Rome. Monica impresses Jack with her knowledge of literature and art. Meanwhile, John keeps telling Jack that Monica will lead him to trouble and criticizes her pseudo-intellectual facade (these interjections always appear surrealistic, implying that John is somehow Jack's conscience personified).Even though John cautions Jack against cheating with Monica, he cannot help but succumb to her charms. Sally sets Monica up with one of their friends, and Jack is jealous of their relationship. One night he and Monica decide to cook dinner for Sally and her boyfriend. They flirt more and more until Jack summons the courage to kiss Monica. She returns his passion, and they go down to his car to have sex. The next morning, they decide Jack should wait until Sally finishes her midterms for Jack to break up with her. The trio go out for lunch after Sallys finals, and when theyre alone Jack tells Monica he plans to dump her that night. They make plans to travel to Greece and Sicily together. Suddenly, Monica, an actress, receives a phone call from her agent. She can barely contain her excitement as she tells Jack that shes been offered a role in a Hollywood blockbuster. She will film in Los Angeles and Tokyo for the next four months. At the drop of a hat, Monica becomes completely focused on preparing for the role. She forgets about traveling with Jack, and he realizes how shallow she is. John and Jack walk back to the Roman street corner where they met and part ways forever. | comedy, humor, entertaining, romantic, clever | train | imdb | Then Jack meets Monica (Ellen Page) who is his girlfriend's best friend and is the object of all men's fantasies.Page also gets to play the role of the self-obsessed, pseudo-intellectual — commonly referred to as "the pedantic one" in most Woody Allen movies.
The cast is charming and I want to highlight a sincere Roberto Benigni; Jesse Eisenberg, that resembles perfectly the young Woody Allen; and the beautiful and talented Ellen Page, with a powerful character that makes you impossible not to fall in love with her.I have the huge bias of been a Woody Allen fan and that is probably why I enjoyed so much this movie.
"To Rome with Love" is a romantic movie by Woody Allen with four independent stories of love, adultery and dreams in the Eternal City.
The most curious is that the stories are not entwined like usually happens in this type of movie.The story of the caretaker that can only sing operas in the shower is sarcastic, with the typical humor of Woody Allen that performs a neurotic and insecure character.
Although nowhere near Woody Allen's great films like Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah and her Sisters and Midnight in Paris, To Rome with Love is still a charming, and entertaining film.
It should be rubber-stamped "Return to Sender." This is undoubtedly the most disappointing of all his films set in Europe.Following a lifetime spent channeling New York's neurotic side, creating some of the most memorable roles in modern film history (Annie Hall, Leonard Zelig, Danny Rose, and of course – Allen himself), the 76-year-old film legend abruptly departed his familiar Manhattan backdrop in 2004, taking his introspective wit across the Atlantic, initially to London, then Barcelona, followed by Paris, and now Rome.His latest release To Rome with Love has all the ingredients of yet another tasty Allen stew.
The always reliable Alec Baldwin, perfectly cast as the debonair know-it-all, oddly provides a voice of reason during Eisenberg's degenerative courtship, hoping to stop his protégé from making a complete fool of himself.The final story seems both camp and patronizing, cookie-cutting arguably the only Italian actor widely recognizable to American audiences (Roberto Benigni -- Life is Beautiful) as the warm roasting chestnut to provide some wildly-exaggerated depiction of the "average" Italian.
To Rome with Love is another "Woody's European City Tour" that follows London, Barcelona and of course Paris, and with Rome he pays tribute by doing one of those Italian anthology comedies (I haven't seen a lot of them frankly, but I'm thinking like back in the 60's with Boccaccio 62), and there are four stories that Woody could also have made individual films.
Alec Baldwin plays a guy who, I think, looks back on his younger self as an impressionable architect (Jesse Eisenberg, very Woody-esque surrogate, but plays his own strengths well as well) who has a new romantic interest in the super-neurotic actress Ellen Page plays (a different turn for her that I had fun watching, though intentionally annoying as a character).
"To Rome with Love" is a less successful movie than "Midnight in Paris", which is a little masterpiece, even though it had a much more ambitious goal.Stories and characters are enjoyable (apart from Benigni, who in the end is less overacting than usual), but the flaw is in the background.
However, this 'golden age' portrait, if compared to the present, seems alienating and little plausible: he might as well have done a costume film...Some highlights are particularly appreciated though: first of all Alec Baldwin's character, then Penelope Cruz's, the "newly-weds story" (which was sufficient by itself to give a shade of Italian Comedy,)and finally the splendid photography.
In this movie Allen does for Rome what he has already done for New York and Paris--transformed the city into a magical kingdom where anything is possible.The film doesn't have one plot, it has four.
It doesn't have one star, it has about a dozen.The four plots involve a young small-town Italian couple who arrive in Rome right after their marriage; a retired opera director (Allen) and his wife who come to Rome to join their daughter, who has fallen in love with a young Italian lawyer; a famous architect (Alec Baldwin) who interposes himself into the life of a young U.S. architecture student living in Rome; and an ordinary citizen (Roberto Benigni) who overnight inexplicably finds himself a major celebrity.Things I learned about Woody Allen from this film: he hasn't lost his touch as a director; he hasn't lost his touch as an actor, as long as he can play Woody Allen; he hasn't lost the ability to write some of the funniest lines you'll ever hear in a movie.Other things I learned: filling a movie with beautiful women--Ellen Page, Alessandra Mastronardi, Penélope Cruz--is generally a very good idea; Penélope Cruz was born to play an extremely sought-after high-class prostitute.
We have seen Woody Allen's multiple love letters to New York City, London, Barcelona, and Paris; now he sets his satirical eye on the ancient city of Rome.
In To Rome with Love, Woody is even less subtle about his intentions by loudly proclaiming in the film's title what he is up to.There are multiple stories entering and exiting the stage with even more characters; however, unlike the majority of films which juggle numerous plot lines, these do not intersect; they exist by themselves and involve their own unique Roman characteristics.
There is John (Alec Baldwin) who chooses to retrace his former life as a young man in Rome 30 years ago and ends up having a very interesting encounter with Jack (Jesse Eisenberg), Sally (Greta Gerwig), and the flippant Monica (Ellen Page).
This particular part of the film does not work too well but it does provide plenty of laughs as inappropriately clad Anna visits the Vatican.To Rome with Love is not among the top tier of Woody Allen's decade long infatuation with filming in European locales (Midnight in Paris) but it is certainly not the worst (Scoop).
My brain doesn't fit the usual id-ego-superego model!"Phyllis (Judy Davis): "No, you have the only brain with three ids."Yesterday I watched with my kids To Rome With Love, by the genius Woody Allen, for the 100th time.
This time he tells 4 stories, all amusing and imaginative.I love that Woody is in the movie, accompanied by the great and beautiful Judy Davis.
Woody Allen has written, directed, acted and produced an all star cast with Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Judy Davis and Allison Pill in the cast.
'To Rome With Love' is a clichéd Woody Allen piece with his hackneyed signatures like multi-layered love stories, couples that came together due to accidents and a babbling, irritating Woody Allen in whichever boring roles he wrote for himself - that last bit has not changed a bit since Annie Hall and man, that was over 30 years ago.While the film has moments of brilliance, the odd but banal plot does not save the day: Alec Baldwin's part was cheesy and awkward, and one wonders why his younger companions were not annoyed by his presence; what happened to Benigni was left unexplained - in a way it needs no explanation but it sounds ridiculous from the beginning - leaving one feeling somewhat disconnected to the story.
I left the theater feeling I had undergone a social experiment by someone who wanted to see, after the success of "Midnight in Paris", if someone would stand up and shout "The king is naked!".Of the 4 parallel story lines only 1 was somewhat watchable and that's because of Alec Baldwin, and even that storyline started so incoherently that it was hard to enjoy it for the rest of the movie..
There are a few laughs along the way, but Allen spreads himself so thin that he is unable to provide his universe with any depth or reality and tries to get by on the audience's familiarity with his work and the faded idea that whatever he puts on screen represents quality.The most successful episode features Alec Baldwin as a world-weary architect who makes a sentimental journey to the street he lived on as a student and encounters young Jesse Eisenberg now in residence and living out a romantic entanglement that Baldwin pops in and out of to provide jaded insight.
And Allen himself makes an appearance as a frustrated opera director who discovers a major talent who can only show off his gifts in the shower, in yet another one-joke misfire.It is sad that after a long stretch of sub-par work and redeeming himself with some quality films like "Midnight in Paris" and "Match Point" that Allen is content to present a lazy effort like "To Rome with Love" which is so derivative of his "early, funny films" without any of the freshness or inventiveness.
Woody Allen's latest film, "To Rome With Love", may be a companion piece to his wonderful "Midnight in Paris", having a style and approach similar to the earlier Oscar-winner.
This film is not recommended.In Woody Allen 44th movie, aptly titled To Rome with Love, four stories try to become one whole film, with sporadic success.
It's as if the director was at odds with the writer and neither would compromise their own point of view, sacrificing the final product.After his witty and highly entertaining Oscar-winning film, Midnight in Paris, the Woodsman sets sail to another European location to create cinematic situations that deal with fame, infidelity, young love, unbridled passion, past regrets, and any flaw that makes us human.
Woody Allen also has a role in this film as Hayley's father who comes to meet Michelangelo's family.Each one of the stories work really well in my opinion although I did laugh a little harder with Roberto Benigni's scenes which remind us all of the perks of being a celebrity, as well as the disadvantages (the overly exaggerated media attention).
Not amongst Woody Allen's finest works but still exhibiting some charm, fun & delight of an Allen film, To Rome with Love is a collection of four story lines that are totally unrelated to each other that deals with themes of adultery, fame, fantasy & other stuffs and while it lacks the element of surprise, it still makes up for a pleasant, light-hearted entertainment.The story of To Rome with Love follows four intertwined but unrelated narratives.
The film also offers some laughs over the course of its runtime but none of its amusing moments stays around once the end credits start rolling.Coming to the performances, the movie features a star-studded ensemble in Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Penélope Cruz, Judy Davis, Jesse Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig & Ellen Page and although none of them leave a lasting impression, the sum of parts isn't all too shabby.
Frustrating at times but never really boring, To Rome with Love is funny in little doses plus has its moments but as a whole, it lacks the inventiveness of Woody Allen's best works..
The rest of the cast make up little frazzled stories that each seem dispensable: a worker (Robertp Benigni) who wakes up to find himself a celebrity - for a while; an architect (Alec Baldwin) who takes a trip back to the street he lived on as a student now inhabited by a confused contemporary student (Jesse Eisenberg); a young couple on their honeymoon (Alessandro Tiberi and Alessandra Mastronardi) whose life is disrupted by a hooker (Penelope Cruz) and a movie star (Antonio Albanese); and a frustrated opera director (Woody Allen) and his wife (Judy Davis) who on a trip to Rome to meet their daughter and her fiancé (Allison Pill and Flavio Parenti) has a talent for discovering talented singers and 'discovers' his future in-law (Fabio Armiliato) who sings opera arias well - but only in the shower.
Quite possibly and after some recent hits this one makes me wonder whether age has finally caught up with Woody Allen, who is now 76 and who, by judging from this film, may be well past delivering an even passably enjoyable movie.What a sad waste of an opportunity to enjoy the marvels of a fantastic city like Rome and its wonderful people and culture.
Not the least bit funny or amusing, and they become increasingly boring.What a sad waste of a competent cast including Alec Baldwin, Judy Davis, Roberto Benigni (from "Life is Beautiful") Penelope Cruz, and Ellen Page etc.
The only joy for me in this film was the brief time that Penelope Cruz spends on the screen; she at least marvelously delivers her small part as only she can, despite everything else dragging this movie down.The role for Roberto Benigni's character is terrible; a simply ridiculous and distracting annoyance throughout the film.The ending of the film was simply underwhelming.This film had all the right ingredients, like some of Woody Allen's other European based movies, so why did it turn out so badly ?
Tells the story of people living in Rome, and there day to day funny adventure and misadventure.Like in Midnight In Paris, Woody Allen makes the audience feel like there in Rome, it's like he is giving us a tour.
going through 4 uneven, unrelated stories placed in the beautiful city of Rome, Woody Allen, the master of repartee (how awesome it is to see him still able to deadpan a line like none other), manages to create an intelligent film, plunging his characters into a world of art and knowledge.
Sure, it's not plausible (neither were Marx Brothers films) but that didn't matter to me, I was laughing out aloud in an empty room, which is usually a good sign of a good movie.I remember when people used to say something like "Where's the old Woody Allen, when he used to be funny?" well here he is.
If you want the finer detail about the film read others worthy reviews (I can't understand the bad ones of course), but if you want an opinion as to if you should watch, then I thought it's up there with Woody Allen's best, but may not be high art, just great fun.
After the critical and commercial successes of "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" and "Midnight in Paris," Woody Allen follows these city- tributes up with another one, this time for the Italian capital of Rome.
A series of circumstances will make them to be separated and face temptation, he to a prostitute catering to Rome's high class (Penelope Cruz), she to a famous if somewhat pathetic older actor (Antonio Albanese).In episode 2 (not completely bad, but probably the weakest of the four), Roberto Benigni, overacting as usual, is a Roman everyman who suddenly and inexplicably becomes a celebrity hounded by the press.In episode 3 (probably the best), Jack (Jesse Eisenberg) is an American student living in Rome with his sweet if somewhat bland girlfriend, Sally (Greta Gerwig).
Allen is a retired former executive in the classical musical business, and after listening to Giancarlo (played by Fabio Armiliato, a real life Italian tenor), the father of his son in law, singing in the shower, he tries to convince him to try a career as an opera singer, to amusing results.Some might say that the episodes are slight (and in a way they are right) but the movie contains some wise reflections on old age, fame, love, whether is better to settle or try for more, etc.
To Rome with Love (2012) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Woody Allen's latest features another all-star cast including the likes of Allen himself, Judy Davis, Roberto Benigni, Alison Pill, Alec Baldwin, Greta Gerwig, Alessandra Mastronardi, Jesse Eisenberg, Penelope Cruz and Ellen Page.
To Mr. Woody Allen: Writing, producing, directing films each year straight since 1982's "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" and the latest installment of Woody Allen's motion picture factory "Wonder Wheel" to be released at New York Film Festival on October 14th 2017, you show remarkable endurance to present films with a calm, filled full of life-time anecdotes, voice, attracting the most accomplished actors of our time from around mainly from the U.S. and Europe, where "To Rome With Love" just fits in as one of the minors, close-to non-sense distracting film of yours, where you only break out once in the last twenty years with the film "Match Point" (2005) by letting actress Scarlett Johansson getting killed by a shotgun attack through Jonathan Rhys-Meyers in order to be able to play a part in London's high society.
To Rome With Love adds to Allen's ongoing European travelogue, and while it certainly isn't his strongest efforts, his lovable vibes are still visible through the sea of sheer craft.Starring: Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Penélope Cruz, Judy Davis, Jesse Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig, and Ellen Page.
After his acclaimed "Midnight In Paris", Woody Allen chooses the location of the the eternal city and directs "To Rome With Love", a story about a number of people in Italy, some of them American, some others Italian, some others residents or visitors, and the romances/adventures/predicaments they are all involved in.
Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Penelope Cruz, Judy Davis, Jesse Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig and Ellen Page stars in this comedic ode.
I also loved films that showcase a great city, like Allen did with Midnight in Paris in 2011 and Vicky Christina Barcelona in 2008.
Woody Allen is a movie director who has a deeply knowledge of modern urban life (his more significant films take place in New York, London, Paris, Barcelona and now Rome) in its various aspects mainly those concerned with human relations namely in what refers to love and the several ways it reveals itself including sex.
I still much prefer the more familiar setting of New York in Woody Allen films, but MIdnight in Paris and To Rome with Love prove that Woody knows exactly what he was doing whether he was in the U.S. or not.
To Rome With Love is certainly not Woody Allen's best work. |
tt0396171 | Perfume: The Story of a Murderer | The film begins with the sentencing of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw), a notorious murderer. Between the reading of the sentence and the execution, the story of his life is told in flashback, beginning with his abandonment at birth in a French fish market. Raised in an orphanage, Grenouille grows into a strangely detached boy with a superhuman sense of smell. After growing to maturity as a tanner's apprentice, he makes his first delivery to Paris, where he revels in the new odors. He focuses on a redheaded girl (Karoline Herfurth) selling yellow plums, following her and repeatedly attempting to sniff her, but startles her with his behavior. To prevent her from crying out, he covers the girl's mouth and unintentionally suffocates her. After realizing that she is dead, he strips her body naked and smells her all over, becoming distraught when her scent fades. Afterwards, Grenouille is haunted by the desire to recreate the girl's aroma.
After making a delivery to a perfume shop, Grenouille amazes the Italian owner, Giuseppe Baldini (Dustin Hoffman), with his ability to identify and create fragrances. He revitalizes the perfumer's career with new formulas, demanding only that Baldini teach him how to preserve scents. Baldini explains that all perfumes are harmonies of twelve individual scents, and may contain a theoretical thirteenth scent. Grenouille continues working for Baldini but is saddened when he learns that Baldini's method of distillation will not capture the scents of all objects. Baldini informs Grenouille of another method that can be learned in Grasse and agrees to help him by providing the journeyman papers he requires in exchange for 100 new perfume formulas. En route to Grasse, Grenouille decides to exile himself from society, taking refuge in a cave. During this time, he discovers that he lacks any personal scent himself, and believes this is why he is perceived as strange or disturbing by others. Deciding to continue his quest, he leaves his cave and continues to Grasse.
Upon arrival in Grasse, Grenouille catches the scent of Laura Richis (Rachel Hurd-Wood), the beautiful, redheaded daughter of the wealthy Antoine Richis (Alan Rickman) and decides that she will be his "thirteenth scent", the linchpin of his perfume. Grenouille finds a job in Grasse under Madame Arnulfi (Corinna Harfouch) and learns the method of enfleurage. He kills a young lavender picker and attempts to extract her scent using the method of hot enfleurage, which fails. After this, he attempts the method of cold enfleurage on a prostitute he hired, but she becomes alarmed and tries to throw him out. He murders her and successfully preserves the scent of the woman. Grenouille embarks on a killing spree, targeting beautiful young women and capturing their scents using his perfected method. He dumps the women's naked corpses around the city, creating panic. After preserving the first twelve scents, Grenouille plans his attack on Laura. During a church sermon excommunicating him, it is announced that a man has confessed to the murders. Richis remains unconvinced and secretly flees the city with his daughter, telling no-one their destination. Grenouille tracks her scent to a roadside inn and sneaks into her room that night, murdering her.
Soldiers capture Grenouille moments after he finishes preparing his perfume. On the day of his execution, he applies the perfume on himself, forcing the jailers to release him. The executioner and the crowd in attendance are speechless at the beauty of the perfume; they declare Grenouille innocent before falling into a massive orgy. Richis, still convinced of Grenouille's guilt, threatens him with his sword, but he is then overwhelmed by the scent and embraces Grenouille as his "son." Walking out of Grasse unscathed, Grenouille has enough perfume to rule the world, but has discovered that it will not allow him to love or be loved like a normal person. Disenchanted by his aimless quest, he returns to the Parisian fish market where he was born and pours the remaining perfume over his head. Overcome by the scent and in the belief that Grenouille is an angel, the nearby crowd devours him. The next morning, all that is left are his clothes and the empty bottle, from which one final drop of perfume falls. | mystery, murder, violence, magical realism, flashback, romantic, historical | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0077405 | Days of Heaven | Bill (Richard Gere), his girlfriend Abby (Brooke Adams) and his young teen sister Linda (Linda Manz) are forced to flee Chicago when Bill accidentally kills the foreman (Stuart Margolin) at the steel mill at which he works. They hop a train and eventually arrive at a wheat farm in the Texas panhandle. Bill secures work for them as sackers by lying to the foreman (Robert J. Wilke) about prior experience. Bill and Abby pretend to be brother and sister to avoid suspicion.Although Bill squabbles with the foreman who considers his performance subpar, the three enjoy the work. The wealthy farmer (Sam Shepard) begins to fall in love with Abby and asks her to stay with him after the harvest. Bill is jealous, but when he overhears the doctor tell the farmer that he has only a few months to live, he encourages Abby to accept his proposal. After the other itinerant workers leave, the farmer and Abby are married. The foreman is suspicious and considers Bill and Abby to be con artists, leading the farmer to send him away.The farmer, Abby, Bill and Linda spend an idyllic year on the farm, playing in the river and fields and having many picnics. The farmer's health recovers quickly, and he no longer seems near death. He treats Bill like a brother but notices that Bill has begun to grow restless and irritable. Bill realizes that Abby is beginning to fall in love with the farmer. However, she is actually torn between her love for the two men. During a visit by a wayward Italian circus troupe, the farmer begins to suspect that Bill and Abby are lovers. When Abby tells Bill this, he decides to leave the farm with the circus troup.With Bill gone, Abby, the farmer and Linda form a stable family for nearly a year. But as the itinerant farmers return, so does Bill. He tells Abby that he doesn't blame her for deciding to stay with the farmer and that he will leave them alone. But the farmer, watching them from afar, misinterprets their final embrace and realizes the true nature of Bill and Abby's relationship. But before he can confront them, locusts arrive at the farm. Bill tries to help with the efforts to burn the pests out, but the farmer attacks him. In his rage, the farmer sets his fields on fire. Bill races off into the night, and the farmer, nearly insane, ties Abby to a column on the porch.The next morning, while surveying the damage, the farmer finds Bill. When he threatens Bill with a gun, Bill stabs him and mortally wounds him. Bill takes Abby and Linda away in the farmer's car, which they later sell in order to purchase a boat. They travel down river but a posse, led by the foreman, pursues them. One morning, the police catch up to the fugitive trio. Bill is shot down trying to escape.Abby has inherited the farmer's fortune. She deposits Linda in the kind of boarding school/dance academy that she herself had dreamed of as a child, then leaves on a train with American soldiers going off the fight in World War I. An older girl (Jackie Shultis) who Linda had befriended that first fall on the farm finds her in the boarding school. Together they run away.-----
Note to author of below: opening credits, narrators and concepts such as "scenes" are not part of a synopsis. It also does not include every single detail, such as one character helping another with a cigarette, or use dialog in lieu of narrative description.
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The films opening credits portray old photos of turn of the century America with a musical theme that recurs throughout the film, Carnival of the Animals The Aquarium by Camille Saint-Saens. Outside Chicago, Bill (Richard Gere) is shown firing up the furnace at a steel mill. He gets in a fight with the steel mill foreman (Stuart Margolin) and accidentally kills him. He runs away. His kid sister Linda (Linda Manz), begins narrating the story. She begins by recounting how things were that have not happened in the movie yet the days of heaven. Bill is helping his lover Abby, (Brooke Adams) with a cigarette as he explains that things will change for them eventually they are down on their luck. The three of them hop a train to Texas, where they sit with dozens of others on the roofs of the trains boxcars. Linda explains that she met someone once who told her that someday the world will go up in flames and the good people will avoid it, but for the bad people, God don't even hear you talkin'. Everyone gets off the train and Bill quickly negotiates a job working on a wheat field for $3 per day as a sacker. He lies about his experience as a "sacker" to get the job.All three get jobs as laborers on the vast wheat field of a farmer (Sam Shepard). Linda makes a friend (Jackie Shultis) in the wheat field. The farmer checks the quality of the wheat in the field to see if its ready for harvest. Prayers are said for a good harvest. Scenes of people using farming equipment follow. Linda narrates that the farmer is falling for Abby for some intangible reason. Bill has told everyone that Abby is his sister, and gets in a fight with a field hand who suggests otherwise. Bill and Abby share a moment in the shade of a wagon. Linda is shown plucking a pheasant. There are more scenes of the harvest. The farmer is shown asking questions of one of his workers about Abby. The farm foreman (Robert J. Wilke) comes by inspecting Bill and Abbys work and docks them $3 for wasting wheat when making bushels. Bill complains but the foreman threatens to fire him and Bill backs down. Bill is concerned about Abbys hands which are sore and rough from the work and wants to find the doctor. The men swim in a pond after the days work is done.Bill sneaks up behind the doctors wagon and steals some ointment for Abbys hands. While he behind the wagon he overhears the doctor explaining that the farmer has about a year to live. Linda narrates that the farmer knew he was going to die, and that people live only once so they should have it nice. The farmer finally speaks with Abby. She explains she is from Chicago. Linda roasts a peacock over a spit, as Bill tells her a joke: "I saved your life today. I killed a shit-eating dog. I'm always lookin' out for you." Apparently a joke by comedian Redd Fox - acknowledged in the end credits in the Thanks section. Bill and Abby have a talk in a haystack. Bill explains they will eventually go to New York and this is only temporary. The harvest continues on. Linda explains if people didnt work they were shipped right out they didnt need you. They could always find someone else. The farmers accountant explains its a 6-figure harvest, his best ever. The farmer gets up and takes a look at Abby through his telescope. There are more scenes of the harvest.The farmer comes up to Abby and offers her to stay instead of going on up north. She excuses herself quickly without answering to go talk to her brother. Bill and Abby splash around in a river. Bill begins to scheme. He suggests that she tell the farmer she will stay. There is a night scene of the harvest, the very end of it. Linda asks Bill if they are going to stay and he explains its up to Abby. Linda has a conversation with her friend about a worker who she was going with who abandoned her. Linda continues to narrate about Bill getting tired of living like the rest of them, like pigs. Bill figured some people need more than they got, and others got more than they need. It was a matter of getting everyone together. A man dances on a wooden plank to a tune played by harmonica. Bill and Abby continue their discussion about staying. A night time celebration with a bonfire and music occurs. Abby tells the farmer she can stay but shes got to keep her brother and sister with her. Lindas friend says good bye and many people leave on a train similar to the way they arrived. Linda questions Abby about why she wants to stay and she explains this isnt so bad to the way she had to live earlier, wrapping cigars, never seeing the light of day. The foreman questions Linda about what they did in Chicago before. Bill explains to the farmer a half-story about how he worked at the mill in Chicago. The farmer tells Abby he loves her. Bill begins to scheme.He suggests she marry him (since he is about to die). She is reluctant. The farmer and Abby get married along the river. The foreman is a joyless best man. The farmer and Abby take off of on their honeymoon. When they get back Linda explains they all never had it so good. The rich got it figured out. All four of them have a playful meal on a gazebo. They play makeshift golf. Bill sneaks Abby out of the house one night for some play in the river and tells her he never wanted to fall in love with her. They sneak in a bit late, after the farmer has begun calling for her. Life goes on. The foreman tells the farmer he thinks they are a couple of con-artists. The farmer takes offense and they have a falling out. The foreman quits and leaves and as he drives away, he stops to tell Bill and Abby he knows what they are doing and warns them that boy is like a son to me. The farmer senses some distance from Abby. A shot of a newspaper shows that president Wilson is on a whistlestop tour. They all go out to watch his train go by. Linda narrates that the farmer wasnt getting sicker as fast as they planned. Maybe the doctor gave him some medicine. Bill and the farmer go hunting for pheasant. The farmer remarks that Bill seems jumpy. Right during their conversation a Fokker tri-plane and a Sopwith camel come into a view as a flying circus lands right in their field. just as things were about to blow says Linda. The circus brings entertainment. Bill kisses Abby one night at the gazebo but the farmer sees it. He confronts Abby later about this strange behavior with her brother. She denies anything unusual but remarks to Bill that the farmer seems more paranoid. Bill is now angry that Abby seems to be in love with the farmer. Bill who is in a bit of a huff, gets a lift from the flying circus to take care of some business. The farmer and Abby are now alone.There are loving scenes between Abby and the farmer. Linda narrates that the farmer taught her the keys on the piano, the parts of a globe. Life continues. The following spring comes. The wheat begins to ripen. Bill comes back on a motorcycle and sees Abby dancing on the porch. Later, Abby apologizes to Bill. Bill explains he regrets not knowing what he had with her, and pushing her into this plot. Bill kisses Abby on his way to leave, and the farmer sees him from up on the roof with his weathervane. He seems a bit sickened.A close-up of a two locusts on some lettuce in the kitchen is a portent of a problem. They are shown bothering the birds. Things evolve rapidly. Abby begins swatting locusts all over the house. They are shown all over the wheat. A red storm flag is hoisted, and a warning siren is sounded, and the workers pile into the field to get rid of the swarm by any means possible. The farmer out in the smoking fields is suspicious of Bill and swings his lantern at him starting a fire. The fire spreads and starts to burn the entire field. Bill and Abby are silhouetted against the fire and she says, "He knows".The hands desperately try to put the fire out but it burns everything. The farmer aggressively intimidates Abby up in the bedroom, throws her down and gets a gun out of his desk. He ties her hands together and calls her a liar. The next day, the farmer is riding through his burnt out fields looking for Bill and finds him fixing his motorcycle. The farmer aims a gun at Bill but bill stabs him with a leather punch. The foreman finds the dead Sam Shepard. The three of them flee.They head down river in a boat. Linda narrates that no one is perfect, youve just got half devil and half angel in you. She explains that Abby will lead a good life from now on, she blamed it all on herself. Linda talks about all the things they see on the boat ride. In parallel action, the foreman begins to track them down.Wild turkeys gobble in the forest, where Bill, Abby, and Linda have camped. Bill walks under some trees, and notices police officers at their ferry boat at the river, presumably looking for him. They spot him and come chasing after him with dogs and horses. He gets back to the tent and grabs a shotgun. He tells them to keep down and then tries to run away as he is pursued. Eventually, he makes a run along the shore line and ends up in a gunfight. He is shot and killed by one of the pursuers on horseback. In her grief, Abby sobs over Bills body as detached people on the shoreline look on.The next scene is Linda in a dancing class. Abby has enrolled her in a dance academy. We dont know exactly how much time has passed. She tells Linda shell be all right, turn around and go inside. Abby walks to the train station through a small town. Young men are boarding a train to participate in World War I which the U.S. has just gotten involved in. A band plays a tune to bid the soldiers goodbye as Abby boards the train with the soldiers.The next morning, Linda escapes from the dance academy. She runs into her friend from the fields who has a new boyfriend. He's in the Army. Maybe he'll get killed or something. I don't know. Anyway, he said I'm pretty. They race away and chat at the railroad tracks, and then walk down the rails towards an uncertain future. Linda narrates This girl, she didn't know where she was goin' or what she was goin' to do. She didn't have no money on her. Maybe she'd meet up with a character. I was hopin' things would work out for her. She was a good friend of mine. | tragedy, boring, murder, atmospheric | train | imdb | But this film has moments, especially in the finale, that are surprisingly close to that of "Badlands" and this is the film where Malick fully mastered his approach of lush, visual poetry told at a languid pace that never seems boring, since you're fully within the film;s grasp.Pauline Kael said in her review that "the film is an empty Christmas tree: you can hang all your dumb metaphors on it." And Charles Taylor, always following Kael's lead (even from beyond the grave), said of Malick's two 1970s films, "Next to the work of Altman, Scorsese, Coppola, De Palma and Mazursky from that period, they're pallid jokes."What never fails to get me furious is when someone viciously attacks a director, like Malick, for being self-indulgent.
You just have half-angel and half-devil in you." This line delivered by Linda Manz in Terrence Malick's gorgeous masterpiece, 'Days of Heaven,' sums up everything you need to know about life on earth.
Also, in a method that Robert Bresson used, by distancing us emotionally, it leaves us to add our own emotions and imaginations in the story, heightening the power of the film, as long as you are willing not to be spoon-fed what to think.Terrence Malick is a filmmaker who came out of nowhere with his talents already fulfilled, and he has not stopped since.
He had one of the greatest debuts ever, in the mesmerizing and haunting 'Badlands,' the deepest and most philosophical 'The Thin Red Line,' which is likely the greatest contemporary war film (as suggested by the late Gene Siskel)and the stunningly beautiful 'The New World.' His films are deep and meaningful, and to get into the underlying symbolism and themes of them here would be pointless, and better saved for a long essay.Days of Heaven is one of the greatest, and most beautiful films ever made.
Cinema is at a low point recently, but as long as Terrence Malick is still making films, we still have some heavenly art to look forward to.PS - Hopefully someone like Criterion will create a new DVD, as the current one has some soundtrack problems.
Days of Heaven is, in fact, what its highest praisers want you to believe: awe-inspiring cinema, sometimes even mind-blowing in what can be filmed and brought forth in a beautiful, seamless mold of narrative and poetry, photographed with an eye for the prairie and fields like very few others and for the period detail.
This is child-actor Linda Manz, her first role in what is a relatively small career, and she voices, in grungy but fine vocal, from afar at times even as she's one of the principle players.She's the kid sister of Bill (Richard Gere, a very good if not extraordinary performance compared to others), a factory worker who kills a man by accident and runs off with his girlfriend Abby (Brooke Adams), and the three of them end up working for a farmer (Sam Shephard), and soon there's a love triangle formed wrapped around an elaborate con of Bill and Abby being brother and sister.
Here's a crucial part of Malick's success in translating the theme of remembrance and feeling both the moment and the mood of the whole period and characters in the film (sometimes combined): just listen to the theme of the movie, used later in movie trailers and commercials, as it reckons a nostalgic tinge for something that one can't firmly grasp but is felt deeply and without really fully knowing the whole scope.
Surely even a mediocre effort in this area would drastically improve the overall film.The movie does showcase young Richard Gere, Sam Shephard, and Brooke Adams, but they might have well been Ken and Barbie dolls, strutted on stage for their physical beauty since Malick demanded so little of them.
The actual film, while very effective of capturing the beauty of nature (a staple of Malick movies as I later found out) was not all that great.
I was then told by a friend that I should give Malick another chance, and either Days of Heaven or Thin Red Line would be a good idea for my second film.
When the fields erupt into flame, quite literally from the broiling emotions of the film's conflicted characters, the viewer is confronted by the most intense manifestation of Hell-on- Earth since the burning village in Bondarchuk's 'War and Peace (1967).' But, interestingly, Malick here regresses on his own allegory: Judgement Day isn't the end, but rather it comes and goes.
This man, Malick, stood twenty years out of business because he had to be, afterwards, after such a beautiful movie he couldn't and shouldn't return with any other thing shorter than this.Days Of Heaven is absolutely perfect cinema, the plot is not important, Malick simply wants to fill your senses and he achieves it.I haven't had the chance to watch it in a theatre, I was four years old at the time, I've watched it on television, and I understood immediately, this man is a hero for building up such a magnificent film in the United States, in Hollywood.A true director builds a universe of his own, with its own "time flow" and dreams and that is what Malick achieved with this film, magic, sacral art.
Brooke Adams, Sam Sheppard and Richard Gere are all excellent, but the real stars of this movie are Director Terrence Malick and Cinematographer Nestor Almendros.
Now don't get me wrong, i love a good film and after watching The Thin Red Line (and loving it) I was eager to track down Terrence Malicks two earlier films, and, having just watched Days of Heaven, my enthusiasm to see Badlands has virtually disappeared.I have noted much rave about the beautiful photography, but i saw this film on a terribly old vhs tape which made it look pretty awful.
The Texas Panhandle (a bloc of 26 counties in the north) at the time of the Wilson presidency is the location of Days Of Heaven, a film of grandeur which loosely follows an itinerant family who set to work on a rich man's estate.The film never felt to me like a traditional story, the name of one of the main characters is never even revealed.
Not perhaps entirely original in conception, the film feels influenced by Visconti's The Leopard / Il Gattopardo (hunting with dogs sequence) and I am told recreates wholly footage from Murnau's City Girl and Powell & Pressburger's A Canterbury Tale.Richard "the blink" Gere seems well chosen as male lead, in that an edgy, at times bewildered, poseur (which may just be who he is), comes off as the right kind of character for the movie: not imposing, but part of the stream of life that is the real protagonist.
The story itself I would say, although moving, could have been substituted by many others, it felt more like a patch in a quilt, of a step in the "inexorable march of progress".As with any pageant, there's a hint of the surreal, planes from the Great War in Europe somehow turn up on the other side of the world as if Malick wasn't content with the breadth of scope the film was already providing.I liked how matter-of-fact the love story in the movie was shown, the naturalistic treatment of elective affinities as opposed to any overblown melodrama or sense of fate.The movie is generally treated as philosophically profound, that's arguable, but it definitely is populist in its appeal, when Linda says, "Nobody's perfect.
Since I couldn't remember The Thin Red Line very well (I should watch it for the second time), I couldn't evaluate 'Terrence Malick cinema' generally, but other than The Thin Red Line, for me his best film so far is The New World, a great movie, but his debut, Badlands and his this film, Days of Heaven are problematic, in my opinion.
The film has a story, yes, a couple pretends to be brother and sister and start to work in a farm, but the lord falls in love with the woman, but the movie mostly consists of images and images and more images, no real plot, no enough words, no action (literally), no story development and no character development.
This is not an art house film absolutely, it is a drama, it is a crime drama, it has a story, it has a star, Richard Gere, but it is not a main stream movie either, that's the problem may be, I don't know.
There is an intriguing story in here (scarcely using a one-person voice-over) set in the twenties (?) about opportunism and greed rather than love, but what makes me want to see this film over and over again is the surpassing cinematography by Nestor Almendros (Goin' South, Places in the heart) which was also extensively discussed in the elaborate and memorable documentary 'Visions of light' (1992) and was probably heavily influenced by Malick, who wanted to use only natural light (nothing extra) and films a lot of animals as usual.
Richard Gere's lead character is on the run in pre 20's America with his "sisters" one of whom is actually his lover,the other a child who may be his or her kin.The bogus relationship leads to the trio working in the wheatfields at harvest time for a lonely rich man who lives in a large remote house under apparent sentace of death from a mystery illness.He falls for the older "sister" and takes all three of them into his house.
The second movie of Terrence Malick's filmography, Days of Heaven depicts a dreadfully boring love triangle on a Texas farm.
The score is also beautiful and of haunting quality, and again as is the case with Malick the visuals are breathtaking particularly in the cinematography and scenery.Also I don't think that Malick's direction has been as poetic as it has been here, that's not saying much though he is a very poetic and ambitious director, or that lead actor Richard Gere has been any better than he is in Days of Heaven.
Terrence Malick's masterpiece, Days of Heaven, is from 1978 and stars Richard Gere, Sam Shepard, Brooke Adams, and Linda Manz.People have written here about the cinematography - there's nothing I can add to it - certainly one of the most gorgeous films ever done, absolutely staggering.The story takes place in 1916.
Malick felt differently, and it's his movie, I just didn't think her gifts showed on screen.This is a must-see film - haunting and atmospheric and incredibly beautiful..
It's not a long movie, but it requires patience, as do all of Malick's films.The characters and the actors playing them left little impression on me.
After viewing "Days of Heaven" for the third time in 20 years, the film touches me the same way as did the works of the three Soviet filmmakers mentioned above.Technically the movie can be appreciated by each of the three elements that build the final compound product.
Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven is one of the most beautiful movies ever made.
On top of the great cinematography, visual set pieces, and subtlety, Malick's decision to make most of the scenes of dialogue short helped to make this film feel poetic and mysterious at times.
Posing as brother and sister, to avoid people talking about them, it isn't long before Abby catches the farmer's eye, and Bill sees an opportunity to escape their poverty stricken lives by getting her to marry the farmer.The beauty of days of Heaven doesn't come from the relatively simple plot though.
Maybe it was the way the wind blew through her hair." The casual narration and elegance of the plot makes it timeless.Only the 2nd film directed by Terrence Malick before taking a 20 year hiatus from making movies (Also escaping the public eye, becoming an almost mythological film God in the process), Days of Heaven was the film in which he would use to create his signature voice overs, shots of nature and the style in his later films.
There are so many scenes in the movie that are just plain gorgeous, that the story doesn't even matter.If you are looking for a movie to just sit back and admire they beauty of the cinematography, then Days of Heaven is the perfect movie for you..
The music is haunting, and visually, like many of Malick's works, the film is unparalleled in its beauty, many of the shots involving natural light just before the sun sets.I give this film a perfect score and would recommend it to literally anyone.
Just when you think the film is about to end, you realize it has 30 more minutes left.All in all, Days of Heaven is beautiful to look at and I'm glad I watched it.
Typical Terrence Malick vehicle that is deeper than an ocean, filmed beautifully and acted brilliantly by three then-unknown actors (Richard Gere, Sam Shepard and Brooke Adams).
This under-appreciated genius is now in the point where he wants to be now: making his own movies, presenting something unique, different than anything people are used to see and most important, he has a public for such delightful and unusual experiences (and most important letting his work speaks for itself rather than appearing in interviews explaining them.) After the failure of "Days of Heaven" he disappeared from the radar for impressive 19 years until resurrect with power, sound and thunder in the epic war film "The Thin Red Line", great success it was and now his career hiatus are getting shorter (his next film might be in Cannes this year, following year of his deserved Palm D'Or win there).
In simple words "Days of Heaven" is about a farm laborer (Richard Gere) who convinces the love of his life (Brooke Adams) to pretend they're brother and sister, so she can marry their rich patron (Sam Shepard), who likes the girl, and so they can have a claim to his fortune.
Malick creates his "heaven" through the spectacular cinematography by Nestor Almendros and Haskell Weskler (but only Nestor got the Oscar, go figure), impressive imagery, the chilling music of Ennio Morricone ("Harvest" is a fantastic piece) that perfectly reflects the environment of endless fields, the sound of the wind, the union between men and nature (a constant in Malick's work), the child whispers recounting her memories from those days.
In my mind it wasn't the photography so much as the production and set design that make the scenes, and if you read about how the movie was made and the extremes that were taken to get certain effects, it's fascinating.So the movie looks good, yes, and it often recreates the mood of these apparently simple times, uneducated people working hard in the fields, lots of folksy celebrating and huddling in the fields in their dignified poverty, appealing clichés, well imagined.Yes, Days of Heaven is a Hallmark card come to life.
or was it so great?Richard Gere, Sam Shepard and Brooke Adams form a love triangle in Days of Heaven that isn't very interesting or very original.
Terence Malick's film combines the gorgeous cinematography of Nestor Almendros and Haskell Wexler and a terrific film score to tell a sketchy story that, despite a lot of dialog and backstory, is quite moving.Billy (Richard Gere) and his common-law wife Abby (Brooke Adams), who poses as his sister, leave Chicago and head west with Billy's real sister, Linda (Linda Manz).
Acting performances are solid, but are not really the focus of the film, as they are part of a small personal story placed into a big environmental canvas, which is effectively a love triangle consisting of hot headed Bill, who plays the sister of Linda Manz's character, and is solidly performed by a young Richard Gere, his secret girlfriend Abby, played by Brooke Adams, and The Farmer played by playwright Sam Shepard.
Days of Heaven(1978) Director Terrence Malicks epic story of a love triangle that takes place at the turn of the century in the wheat fields of the Texas Panhandle.Richard Gere(in perhaps his best performance), his girlfriend and sister take labor jobs picking wheat and soon the rich land owner,(played by Sam Shepard )falls in love with Geres girlfriend (Brooke Adams).
While watching Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven (1978) it made me think of another romance movie that i had seen earlier in the year and that movie was Sydney Pollack's Out of Africa (1985) because they have so much in common such as the genre and the beautiful landscapes in both pictures.
Unanimously hailed by cinema lovers around the world as one of the most beautiful films of all time, Days of Heaven is Terrence Malick's second feature after the fervently received Badlands and presents the director cementing his status as one of cinema's finest auteurs by experimenting with the visual outlook of the film in order to overwhelm the viewers' senses with its beauty, at which he magnificently succeeds.The plot concerns two lovers, Bill & Abby, disguised as siblings who travel to Texas Panhandle along with Bill's little sister (who's the narrator of the film) to harvest crops for a wealthy farmer.
Days of Heaven is a very beautiful and original film that I would watch several times!
Days of Heaven is a very beautiful and original film that I would watch several times!
Days of Heaven (1978) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Set in Texas 1916, this Terrance Malick drama centers on poor immigrant Bill (Richard Gere) who talks the woman he loves (Brooke Adams) into marrying a dying farm owner (Sam Shepard) so that they can enjoy his money once he dies.
Since the best parts are the cinematography, narration (by Linda Manz, in a New Yorker-like accent) and music, it's enjoyable to watch again and again, even though you know what will happen.The movie was clearly made by people who saw the artistic possibilities of film.
"Days of Heaven" is a very beautiful movie, full of poetry, like any other work by Malick. |
tt0084695 | The Slumber Party Massacre | In a suburban Los Angeles neighborhood, a paperboy tosses a newspaper with the headline that screams: "MASS MURDERER OF 5 RUSS THORN ESCAPES". In one house, 18-year-old Trish Deveraux (Michele Michaels) wakes up, dresses, and gathers some dolls to throw away. Over her radio alarm clock, a news reporter talks about a mass murder, named Russ Thorn, who escaped from the state insane asylum where he was incarcerated since 1969 for killing five people in nearby Venice, California. Outside, Trish's parents are leaving for the weekend and her mother tells her that their next door neighbor Mr. Contant (Ryan Kennedy) is there if she needs help with anything. Her parents leave and Trish throws her bag of old dolls in a trash can and begins to walk to school. As she is leaving, someone takes one of the dolls out of the trash.At the local high school, two guys, named Jeff (David Millbern) and Neil (Joe Johnson), are talking about girls and about rumors of a slumber party that Trish is throwing at her house tonight. Jeff hits on a telephone repairwoman, named Mary, as she is fixing a phone line to one of the buildings on the school grounds. Neil pulls Jeff aside and the boys keep walking as the woman stands by her van. Suddenly, a man pulls Mary into the van and drills her to death with a large power drill.In the school gymnasium, Trish is playing basketball with the rest of her teammates. Trish is part of the school's girls basketball team. Jeff and Neil arrive to watch the girls practice and discuss the new girl, Valerie Bates (Robin Stille) whom is also on the court. The girls coach Jana (Pamela Roylance) yells to get the girls motivated. Valerie impresses the coach by scoring a few baskets, but the others ignore her because she is the new girl at school. In the locker room showers, Valerie continues to be ignored until Trish approaches her and compliments her on her basketball skills. A little later, Trish suggests to her teammates Diane (Gina Mari), Jackie (Andree Honore) and Kim (Debra Deliso) about inviting Valerie to their slumber party. But Diane rejects the idea and begins to bad-mouth Valerie to the rest of the girls. Valerie hears the girls and begins to leave until she is stopped by Trish. Valerie coldly says that she cannot come over to Trish's house for the party and she leaves.Outside the gym, the group is leaving as Trish, Jackie, Kim, Diane, and another teammate named Linda (Brinke Stevens) discuss the party and they are joined by Jeff and Neil. They are observed by the killer Russ Thorn (Michael Villella), a wild-eyed, casually dressed, middle-aged man watching them from the telephone repairwoman's van. Linda returns to the gymnasium to her locker to get a book as Russ Thorn watches the group leave, passing by a dumpster, with the dead telephone repairwoman in it, as well as Coach Jana also leaving the gymnasium. As Linda retrieves a book from her locker, she finds that she is locked in the building. As she looks for a way out, Russ Thorn appears and walks up to her in the hallway and attacks her with the large phallic power drill, drilling through her left arm. Linda runs and hides in the dark shower room and under a counter door. After looking around, Thorn sees her blood seeping under the door and drills right through the door. Linda screams, but her screams do not last long. Thorn runs back to the van and drives off.While walking home from school, Diane meets her boyfriend John Minor (Jim Boyce) who surprises her. John asks Diane if she can get around the no-boys-allowed rule at Trish's party. Diane tells John to call her later at Trish's house to ask again.Across town, Coach Jana arrives home only to be surprised when a drill bit crashes through her front door, but it is only her carpenter Pam drilling a peak-hole for her front door. Jana asks the carpenter if she had seen her pet cat, but she hadn't.Meanwhile, Trish arrives home and talks on the phone with Diane until she hears a noise, and is scared by Mr. Contant, who offers to sit and wait with her until the girls arrive.At Coach Jana's house, she hears a noise and opens up a closet door to find her cat, Muffin, jump out and scare her.At nightfall, the driller killer, Russ Thorn, arrives in the telephone repairwoman's van on Trish's street, where he gets out, and lurks in the bushes around Trish's house. Jackie and Kim arrive at Trish's house and show her a bag of marijuana they brought with them and begin to smoke some of it. Mr. Contant walks in and does not seem to mine and he leaves the house, walking next door to the right of Trish's house.Coincidently, the other next door house to the left of Trish's is the Bates home where Valerie is with her younger 14-year-old sister, Courtney (Jennifer Myers), and looking after her while their divorced mother is away for the weekend as well. Valerie checks outside when she hears a noise to see an overturned trash can.Meanwhile, Jeff and Neil arrive and lurk outside the house on the other side to watch the girls change their clothes, smoke more pot, and make a fire in the fireplace. Inside the house, the girls hear a noise and investigate the kitchen, only to find that Diane has arrived. Trish suggests ordering a pizza, and Diane goes outside to get more wood for the fireplace. She meets Mr. Contant, who is chopping snails with a meat cleaver. Diane says goodnight to him and leaves. Just as Mr. Contant is preparing to snag another snail, the driller killer walks up to him from behind and drills him through the neck.A little later, Russ Thorn continues lurking outside the house and just when he is about climb in through a window, Trish appears and closes the window, unaware that he is there. When she looks again, the sees a melted doll (the same one she threw in the garbage earlier), stuck up to the window with the meat cleaver. Trish and Diane go to the garage to check if there is someone there and see that it is not locked. Diane calls John on the phone, while the stoned and giggly girls listen in on the line. Diane hears them and tells John to come over soon. Just then, the lights in the house go out. The girls go to the garage to check the fuse box and find some fuses missing. The are scared by Jeff and Neil, and in turn Jeff gets punched by Trish for scaring them. Trish forces them to re-install the fuses, making the lights in the house come on again and all of them go inside.Next door, Valerie hears a noise again and she sees both trash cans lying down on the ground. Courtney thinks that it just may be some stray dogs looking for food. Courtney looks through her bedroom window at Trish's house, curious about the party going on and she sees John pulling up on the driveway in his car. John honks his car horn and Diane comes out saying she cannot leave right now. John pulls his car into the garage.Meanwhile, Courtney suggests crashing Trish's party while Valerie brushes her hair. Valerie tells her sister that she just wants to be alone and does not feel very sociable. In Trish's garage, Diane and John are making out in his car while the others are inside. John suggests going over to his house for some intimate time and Diane goes in the house and tells Trish that she and John are going out for beer. Trish, aware that Diane only wants to go someplace to have sex with John, replies "you don't have to ask my permission, Diane". Diane returns to the car where she gets in the front seat only to find John's head falling off his body. She screams, but her screams are not heard because the girls inside are running a blender to make margaritas. Diane crawls out of the car and is killed by Thorn, who is still in the garage.Next door, Courtney thinks that she hears honking and screaming, but Valerie says that it's nothing. Courtney again asks Valerie if they could go over to the party, but Valerie again refuses. Courtney retreats to her bedroom while Valerie stays downstairs and turns on the living room TV to watch a movie.At Trish's house, the front doorbell rings and the group thinks its the pizza guy. Jeff asks through the door "what's the damage?" he hears a voice through the door saying "six... so far". Kim and Jackie are on the phone with Coach Jana to ask about an upcoming basketball game, and the front door is opened to find a dead pizza delivery guy, his eyes gorged out, who falls through the doorway and lands on the floor..... with the pizza still in his dead arms. The girls scream and Trish hangs up the phone to call the police, but Thorn cuts the phone lines. Coach Jana hears the screaming on the other line before she gets cut off. Jana tries calling the girls back, but there is no answer. Coach Jana calls Valerie suggesting checking out the house and she says that she will drive over there to help check it out herself.In Trish's house, Jeff and Neil arm themselves with kitchen knives and begin to lock all the doors and windows of the house. After a while, Jeff suggests that they make a run for it to get help. Neil decides to make a run for Valerie's house while Jeff will make a run for Mr. Contant's house to get to a phone. Trish and the girls reluctantly agree. Jeff goes out the back door while Neil runs out the front door. But by splitting up, the guys guarantee their own demise. Jeff has to run through the back yard and through the garage to get out the back way where he finds a dead Diane in the garage. Thorn is in the garage waiting for him and drills Jeff in the back. Thorn then runs after Neil who makes it to Valerie's front door and begins frantically knocking and screaming for help. But Valerie either ignores the knocking or doesn't hear it due to the loud television. Courtney doesn't hear Neil calling for help either because she is on her phone in her bedroom talking to a friend while playing loud rock music on her radio. Thorn approaches and attacks Neil in which he manages to twist the knife Neil has from his hands and gorily stabs the boy to death. When Valerie finally goes to the front door, she cannot see anything as Thorn is carrying Neil's dead body back to the garage and throws him in the trunk of John's car where the dead bodies of John, Mr. Contant, and Diane are stuffed in. Thorn counts the bodies and realizes that one is missing. It is Jeff, who despite being gravely wounded, is crawling back towards the back door.Inside, Trish, Diane, and Kim sit in a circle with knives in their hands. Jackie goes for the dead pizza boy's delivery and enjoys a slice of pizza. The girls hear the wounded Jeff scraching on the back door. But they are too afraid to open the door thinking that it might be a trick. Then they hear Thorn approach Jeff and drill him to death. Meanwhile, Coach Jana gets in her car and begins to drive over to Trish's house, while Valerie goes upstairs to find Courtney gone. Valerie sees her sister walking to Trish's house and runs after Courtney.Courtney sees Valerie approaching and ducks away from her by running around the side of the house. Valerie goes up to the front door and rings the doorbell and knocks on the front door. When she gets no reply, she leaves. Jackie runs to the front door from the kitchen to let Valerie in and when she opens it, Thorn is now standing there and swipes the drill across Jackie's neck, killing her. Trish and Kim run upstairs and barricade themselves in Trish's bedroom.Meanwhile, Valerie finds Courtney in the back of the house and she tells her that she does not think anyone is home after looking in the windows and seeing no one. Valerie tells her that she will check the front door again. She walks inside the house through the front door after finding it conspicuously wide open after knowing that the front door was closed and locked just a few minutes ago. Valerie calls out the girls' names, and, upstairs, Kim wants to respond, but Trish suggests that Valerie might be helping the killer. Looking around the downstairs and finding nobody in sight, Valerie walks out through the kitchen into the backyard to find Courtney gone.Upstairs in Trish's bedroom, Trish and Kim talk about what they are going to do, when Thorn sneaks in through a window and attacks them. Trish defends herself by knocking the driller killer down with a baseball bat and then tries moving the furniture away from the blocked door. But Thorn quickly revives and Kim attacks him with a knife. Thorn twists the knife out of Kim's hands and stabs her to death. Trish runs and hides in her parents' bedroom closet.While Thorn searches for Trish upstairs, Valerie goes outside and finds Courtney and they go back inside Trish's house where they find Kim's dead body in the refrigerator. (Note: there is a minor plot hole here as well as some cheating as one would wonder why in the world would the killer drag Kim, after having killed her upstairs, downstairs to the kitchen to stuff her into the refrigerator, and in such a short time). Both girls scream, and Thorn hears them. Valerie sees the shadow of Thorn on the stairway and hides in the basement while Courtney ducks under the living room couch. Thorn walks downstairs and looks around and sees no one. He closes the front door and drags the dead pizza guy away into the basement, while Valerie hides under the basement stairs. Then, for some odd reason, Thorn lies down on the living room floor and covers himself with a blanket.A few minutes later, Coach Jana arrives at the house and calls out the girls' names and walks inside. Courtney, still hiding under the living room couch just feet away from Thorn, Trish, still hiding upstairs, and Valerie, still hiding in the basement, do not call out in fear of being discovered by the killer. When Coach Jana approaches a figure, covered, on the living room floor, Thorn jumps up and goes after the coach with the drill while she defends herself with a fireplace poker. Courtney intervenes and trips Thorn, who gets beaten by the coach with the fireplace poker, and Trish runs in and stabs Thorn once in the back. He sits back up and slashes Coach Jana across the chest with the drill, killing her, and knocks Trish to the floor. Speaking for the first time, Thorn makes a remark to Trish how pretty she is and that all of her friends are very pretty. The driller killer tells Trish that "it takes a lot of love for a person to do this."Just then, Valerie runs up from the basement, wielding a large machete and swings it at Thorn who runs out the back door and stands by the backyard swimming pool while Valerie continues swinging the machete at him. With a powerful swing, Valerie chops off his drill bit and further attacks, chopping off Thorn's left hand and slashes him in the abdomen in which he falls into the pool. Valerie drops the machete and she and her sister embrace. Thorn crawls out of the pool and jumps atop Valerie to get at the machete. Courtney tries to stop him, but Thorn punches her in the face and knocks her aside. Trish runs out and attacks him again. Thorn knocks Trish down and jumps for Valerie, who grabs the machete, and he lands right on top of it. Thorn falls to the ground, dead at last. The shaken Trish, Valerie, and Courtney look on as police sirens are heard in the distance. | cult, murder, violence | train | imdb | Totally unpretentious '80's slasher is a cheesy, but fun ride.Some lovely young ladies decide to throw a get together, only to have some loonie with a drill stop in to kill them all.Slumber Party Massacre is a slasher fan's guilty pleasure with a pretty silly edge to it!
The acting, directing, and special FX are all B-grade stuff, but overall that helps rather than henders the mood of the film.At any rate, this film is strictly a good-time party kinda film, certainly nothing to be taken serious, but just enjoyed for it's humor (both intended and unintended) with the horror genre.*** out of ****.
Sure it's not the bloodiest, scariest, well acted or written horror movie that wonderful 80's produced- but it does have something that makes it special and a standout on its own.Trish (Michelle Michaels) is a popular basketball player whose parents have gone away for the weekend.
Eventually Val and Courtney get involved in the goings on and before you know it our girls are in some serious trouble.The movie works due to some genuinely funny comedic dialogue- and Michael Villella's great portrayal of the Driller Killer.
If you collect horror and are a big fan of the classic cheesy horror movies from the beloved 80's, Slumber Party Massacre is worth an entry into your DVD collection..
The film's premise is about a group of girls & company(voyeuristic boys, a neighbor, a basketball coach, etc...)spending an evening together for a slumber party only to have things go awry when an escaped serial killer with a penchant for drilling people to death comes onto the scene.
Okay, this is a slasher movie, so I wasn't expecting a great movie, but The Slumber Party Massacre is just uninspired garbage.
Talking purely in terms of 80's horror, "The Slumber Party Massacre" is a pretty good effort with likable characters, a fair amount of suspense and a handful of excellent gory killings.
Wow...I don't even know what to say...TERRIBLE MOVIE...I suppose they inserted topless teenage girl scenes to regain any audience interest, but I hate to say it...Even that wasn't enough to make me enjoy this film.
the story is simple some guy named Russ Thorn killed 5 people in 1969, he is in a mental hospital and one day he breaks out, thats all we find out about him, then we have Trish she is left home alone so she invites a few friends over for a slumber party, Trish wants to invite the nice shy girl Valerie over but her friends don't want her to.
A feminist director making a slasher movie with naked girls getting killed by a unique weapon?
The best example is a girl who actually tries to hide her blood spilling so she can hide better, attention to detail, I like that.Overall very solid watch, but nowhere near on the top of my list of slasher movies..
Although most of the 18-year-old girls in 1982's "The Slumber Party Massacre" do some pretty dumb and questionable things, Trish (Michele Michaels) shows perfectly sound judgment when it comes to one area: When your parents split for the weekend, THAT is certainly the time for an "open house"!
He even uses the drill on one of the girls' heads.Standard slasher film, made by mostly women, including writer (Rita Mae Brown) and director (Amy Jones, who also co-produced), is pointless, gory and exploitive.
There are some funny moments in it (like when killer counts the number of bodies in the trunk) but there is almost nothing memorable about SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE except for the nudity at the beginning of the film.
Slumber Party Massacre boasting a movie poster that had four scantly clad women viewed from between the legs of the killer was something of teenage pin up fantasy.
The victims are a bunch of high school girls that look as old as College sophomores but thanks to the tight form fitting fashions of the time (the film was shot in 1982) they are every bit as sexually stimulating as they were intended.So with the setting established a slumber party at the home of one of the girls homes, the characters all exposed as expendable and the killer on the loose after having escaped authorities, we were set for some bloodletting.There is nothing new about Slumber Party Massacre.
And there is a killer that has a kill toy of choice even if he doesn't have any kind of personality present within the film's frames.Slumber Party Massacre was originally written with the intention of being a slasher movie spoof.
A slumber party is invaded by a psycho slasher who kills with a large drill in this would-be satire of the hack-'em-up genre scripted by feminist author Rita Mae Brown.However the film becomes a prime example of the gratuitous sex and violence toward women which it hopes to mock.Horror fans will surely enjoy it particularly a jolting scene involving a pizza-delivery man who shows up at the door at the wrong time.The film has some genuinely inspired moments of sheer lunacy and offers tons of female nudity.The uncut version features also a good bit of tasty gore including some lovingly bloody electric drill killings.I haven't seen three sequels that followed,but maybe someday...8 out of 10 for this crypto-feminist slasher flick..
I wouldn't call it great and it's quite routine as they go, but 'Slumber Party Massacre' holds a maniac edge and competent air that easily makes it one of the sub-genres' best and funniest to view.Brimming with attitude and energy (thanks to Amy Holden Jones' efficiently upbeat and gusty direction and an effectively foreboding electronic score), it pretty much gets right into it and never really let's go.
What it was turned out to be one simple fact...it just wasn't that gory.Be that as it may, it's still a fun watch and is chock full of (what are now) clichés, subtle hints of what have become one-liners, classic screams, a bunch of kills, "creepy" 80's synth sounds, and a good all around production.While many people bash this aspect of the early slasher movies, I enjoy the stupid decisions kids make in horror movies.
"Don't worry, even though I know shouldn't, I'll go out there alone,""Yeh, one of my friends was just randomly killed...oh wait....2...no 3...no 4...it's still ok to open the front door,""(Before crazy horror acts begin) Ooooh, I'm scared to go in the garage to get a get something, but (now that a deranged killer is stalking my party) I'll go outside and to the neighbor's house and see if they're ok after hearing screams, phones going dead, and my gym teacher disappeared doing the same thing."The first rule of watch most movies, but horror in general, is to never question "WHY." You just gotta to with it.
Problem is a silent, stone faced killer Russ Thorn (Michael Villella) has escaped from a mental institution and is ready to wreck havoc on this party.Thing is there is something more to this 1982 slasher than just kills and scantily clad women.
I enjoyed in how the film was shot (by director Amy Holden Jones) and extra parts to the script written by Rita Mae Brown (like more going on than just a psycho guy with a drill coming to kill you) that really aren't in your average slasher.
Despite this, "The Slumber Party Massacre" (1981) IS a serious slasher flick featuring the 'driller killer' and it's pretty well-done.
1) Snobby girls have sleepover, excluding one of their teammates because shes new to town.2) Snobbist Girl gets killed early in her high school locker room3) The actor who played the killer was dead On: Great Job4) Once at the party and the killer strikes its up to the ones not invited to save the day.5) The blood was good and the nudity flowed like most 80's Slasher FlicksActing: A- Gore: A Plot: B+ Directing: B+ Nudity: A-Overall: A-.
I enjoyed "The Slumber Party Massacre" because I found it to be a good suspense film with the right mix of violence and laughs.
At least, unlike the others, this one doesn't clumsily try to throw plot twists and possible suspects at you -- it's just straight-ahead, unashamed gore and exploitation about an escaped mental patient with a large power drill who crashes an all-girl basketball team's slumber party.
With all of the gratuitous nudity and violence, it's hard to believe that all three of these movies were directed by women -- if they were intended as feminist satires, then the makers didn't do a very good job of it (other than some obvious phallic references represented by the killer's probing `drill,' this movie could have been directed by any number of misogynistic men.) And, as with the other movies in this lame series, there's a fundamental flaw in the plot that requires all of the characters to remain in the house with the killer when, several times, they could easily walk out the damn front door.
Sure its got the fake scares, the unnecessary nudity, the phony gore, the bad acting, and the stupid characters, but's thats why i love horror movies and always will...by the way, it's about some chicks who have this slumber party and half to put up with annoying guys and a creepy killer with a drill!
What a surprise!'The rest of the film starts turning into what fans of cheesy movies enjoy -- lots of bad lines, really horrible acting and as much blood and gore as you can pack into thirty minutes as possible.
I do like watching slasher movies, and oddly enough then I never gotten around to watching the "Slumber Party Massacre" trilogy.
But then again, some of the kills were just downright laughable.All in all, "Slumber Party Massacre" turned out to be a less than mediocre slasher movie, and one that I will not return to watch again, and nor will I attempt at watching parts 2 and 3..
Thron goes from victims to victim from one part of Tris Devereaud's,Michelle Michaels,house to another as he slowly knocks them off one person at a time until the final scene.Thorn is confronted at the end of "Slumber Party Massacre" by Trish together with Val and her kid sister Courtney, Robin Stille & Jenifer Meyers, and the girl's high-school coach Carpenter, Pamala Gazano,who all turned out to be more that a match for the insane killer.
"Slumber Party Massacre" is one of the foundation slasher flicks of it's time (early 80's).
Slumber Party Massacre (1982) is your typical early 80's slasher/horror flick.
what a dog this thing was.i'm just glad i saw it on premium cable,and didn't lose any money on it.i did however lose 77 minutes of my life.it actually seemed like three hours before this thing finally ended.it's done in the style of the original Halloween,and the original Prom Night,but it's nowhere near as good as either of them.there are some very funny moments here,(unintentional)and the acting is worse than usual for this genre.the plot is also sillier than usual.yes,there are some scenes of naked women,but that is not enough to save this clunker.the only reason i got through it were the above mentioned funny moments,which i at least got a chuckle out of.for that,i give Slumber Party Massacre a 2/10.
A maniac with a shrill drill terrorizes and kills horny teenagers at an innocent (?) slumber party.Director Amy Jones, working from feminist-of-some-repute Rita Mae Brown's screenplay, promises a potentially entertaining potboiler by delivering a slick, stylish opening.But by the time the false alarms and contrived scares approach double figures, you just know this filler has very little invention on its mind.Brown's dialog is quite realistic, to be fair, and Jones tries hard to raise the limitations of a tired genre, but the illogical climax, setting the film up for two sequels, negates all good intentions.Teener Trish Devereaux, who plays the film's leading lady, went on to be a top porno personality and is now married to the great John "Buttman" Stagliano..
Scriptwriter Rita Mae Brown originally intended The Slumber Party Massacre to be a feminist parody of the misogynistic slasher genre; however, thanks to intervention from the producers and a by-the-numbers treatment from director Amy Jones, there is very little evidence in the finished movie to suggest that this was ever going to be anything but a trashy, sexist, and violent body-count flick.
In other words, good old-fashioned, unpretentious fun.The thin-as-a-wafer plot sees a promiscuous group of pot smokin' babes stalked and killed by an escaped psycho, and features all of the hokey clichés that one typically associates with such a film, including the virginal goody-goody heroine, her obnoxious younger sibling, a creepy neighbour who provides several scares, a cat leaping out of a cupboard, and a couple of overly-hormonal nerds just ripe for the slaughter.Whilst the killer himself isn't particularly memorable, the fact that he equips himself with one of the largest power-tools in slasher history (Leatherface's chainsaw aside) means that you won't forget him in a hurry: the huge cordless drill that he uses to slaughter teenagers is very impressive (what size Rawlplug fits a hole that size?!?!).After much routine stalk 'n' slash mayhem (plus a whole lot more female nudity), with a fairly impressive body count (but not that much in the way of gore), the film finishes by displaying a touch of the female empowerment that Rita Mae Brown had probably initially hoped for: the survivors attack the killer, with one character symbolically emasculating the lunatic by chopping off the end of his extremely phallic drill.6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb..
Originally intended to be a feminist parody of the slasher formula that was running rife post Halloween, The Slumber Party Massacre was tampered with so as to make a serious horror movie.
SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE ANOTHER GOOD OLE 80S SLASHER FLICK..
Slumber Party Massacre From 1981 Directed By Woman Named Amy Holden-Jones Who I'm Very Surprised Because is Mostly The Guys Directed And Make Slasher Movies But You Know What it's About Time That a Woman Made a Slasher Film There Should Be More Of Woman or Women Filmmakers Who All Should Make a Lot Of Slasher Movies Not Just All The Guys Making Them But Give The Females a Chance To Make These Kind Of Movies More Often, Michael Villela Who Plays Russ Thorn Delivers a Creepy And Scary Performance As The Drill Serial Killer Russ Thorn Who Walks And Moves Like a Peacock, Also Too Not Just Michael Villela As Russ Thorn Was Good in This Film But The Other Girls Were Great Too Like Michele Michaels Who Plays Trish, Robin Stille Who Plays Valerie The One Girl Who Kicked Russ Thron's Ass, Debra Deliso Who Plays Kim, Jennifer Meyers Who Plays Courtney Valerie's Sister, Andree Honore Who Plays Jackie, Gina Mari Who Plays Diane, Pamela Roylance Who Plays Coach Jana And Brinke Stevens Who Plays The ill Fated Character Linda Who Goes Back inside The School To Grab Her Book For The Upcoming Test But Sadly She Meets Her Death At The Hands Of Russ Thorn.
And This Film Slumber Party Massacre Will Be Another Great 80s Slasher Movie..
HELP!" noise is from outside - hey, why look at it sooner, it's a dumb slumber party she's not been invited to after all - it's too late.Oh, and of course there's the phallic imagery of the drill (one shot in one particular kill scene seems like the quintessential slasher- movie image outside of something from Halloween), though I'm not convinced that is intentionally some sort of comment.
pretty), and the girls in the cast are all game and only a couple of them are genuinely not good, like the "younger" sister (seriously, she looks almost as old if not *older* than the older sister!) The climax may try to bite off a little more than it can chew, but by then if one is already in, then it's still an entertaining ride, and whatever that drill is meant to represent - honestly, Ferrara probably meant more symbolically in his Driller Killer than this, on the whole - it's an effective visual.In other words: can women direct and write slashers?
Lo and behold, a maniac with an electric drill of all things has been lurking around the high school, and has followed them home to join the party.This fast and easy slasher flick was originally written as a feminist satire of slasher movies by Rita Mae Brown, but was directed by Amy Holden Jones as a more or less straightforward horror film, and it certainly reads that way.
Though it's dotted with bits of slight humor, "The Slumber Party Massacre" actually feels fairly dark for a slasher movie.
However, a homicidal maniac(Michael Villea) has escaped from a mental hospital as he has a love for knives and power- drills as he crashes the party to start making a bloodbath but can some of the ladies escape from the killer?Exciting and intense 1982 slasher film from Roger Corman productions and was directed by Amy Jones and written by a feminist as it was one of the first horror movies made by women.
This is a very simple story here of a group of high school girls having a slumber party (despite looking too old for that sort of thing) while their horny male counterparts goof off and while a degenerate mass murdering creep, Russ Thorn (Michael Villella) stalks both men and women alike with his handy power drill."The Slumber Party Massacre" is of course unique for the slasher sub genre for being written and directed by women.
The Slumber Party Massacre is a low budget slasher from the 80s written by feminist writer Rita Mae Brown and directed by Amy Jones.A lot of people have complained about this movie being bad, and yes it is bad but if your'e familiar with B-movies you should know that they arent going to be oscar winning material and will have bad acting and a terrible script.
"The Slumber Party Massacre," written and directed by women, is a perfect definition of what an 80's slasher movie is. |
tt0294870 | Rent | After an introduction with the cast singing "Seasons of Love," the film opens with apartment tenants (including two friends and roommates, Mark and Roger) expressing their anger with suddenly being asked to pay rent which had previously been waived by the landlord. Collins, a former roommate of Mark's and friend to both Mark and Roger, returns from out of town and is attacked by three men and left for dead in an alley ("Rent"). Benny, the landlord and former roommate of Mark and Collins, who has married into a wealthy family, offers to give Mark and Roger free rent again if they can convince Maureen (Mark's ex-girlfriend) to stop her protest. The protest is to take place at Maureen's performance space which Benny is planning to to turn into a cyber-cafe ("You'll See").Angel Dumott Schunard, who is an AIDS-positive drag queen drummer, meets Collins, who is also AIDS-positive, in the alley. We learn that these two characters are romantically interested in each other. Later that night, Roger mourns the loss of his girlfriend April, who committed suicide after learning she had HIV, and sings of his desire to write one lasting song before his own death from HIV ("One Song Glory"). Mimi, a night club dancer addicted to heroin, enters Roger's apartment and flirts with him ("Light My Candle").The next morning, Roger and Mark meet Angel, who performs a song-and-dance number for them ("Today 4 U"). Angel invites them to join him and Collins at a meeting at a local community center. Roger declines but Mark accepts, telling them he will be there after he goes to help Maureen, who had called and asked for help with a technical problem. Mark goes to help Maureen, only to meet Joanne Jefferson, Maureen's new lover. They talk about Maureen's "hobby" of cheating ("Tango: Maureen"). He then proceeds to the Life Support Meeting. While there, Mark asks permission from the Support group members to film them for his new documentary. A man in the group talks about how he finds it hard to accept what they teach in the group, "but I try to open up to what I don't know, because reason says I should have died 3 years ago" ("Life Support"). Forward to a night club, with Mimi performing a song and dance routine, singing of her desire to go out and have a good time before her life ends ("Out Tonight"). She barges into Roger's apartment, where he gets angry at her ("Another Day").The next day, Mark asks Roger if he wants to go to the Support group meeting with him, but Roger declines. At the meeting, the people began to question, "Will I lose my dignity? Will someone care? Will I wake tomorrow from this nightmare?" ("Will I?") During this, Roger joins the group, much to Angel's, Collins', and Mark's joy. On the way back to the apartments, the four friends talk about leaving New York and going out to Santa Fe and opening a restaurant ("Santa Fe"). After the subway ride, Mark and Roger go off to help Joanne at the lot where the protest will take place. Walking down the streets, Collins and Angel express their love for each other in song ("I'll Cover You").Maureen's protest happens later that night ("Over the Moon"). Benny has put the police on standby. This proves to be a bad mistake on his part. There is a riot, which causes Maureen to get even angrier at him. That night at the Life Cafe, everyone meets up. Mark reveals that he got the riot on film and the show Buzzline wants to put it on their show. Benny tells everyone that he is sorry (with the unmoved Maureen telling him to "go to hell") and that the reason his wife wasn't there was that there was a death in the family. It turns out to be his dog, who Angel caused to jump off their twenty-third-story apartment, not knowing it was his. They then perform "La Vie Bohème" and in the middle, Roger and Mimi perform their own song outside expressing their love for each other ("I Should Tell You"). Roger finds out that Mimi is HIV-positive, and Mimi already knows that Roger is too. The two re-enter the cafe and celebrate their newfound relationship ("La Vie Boheme B").The gang celebrates the New Year together, with Mimi vowing to give up her drug habit and go back to school. However, they are locked out of their apartment, and Angel breaks the padlock with a garbage can. They enter, only to find that all of their things are gone.Joanne serves as Mark's lawyer and they sell his footage to Buzzline and he negotiates a job there. He will be paid $3,000 a segment. During their conference with Alexi Darling, the Buzzline supervisor, Joanne sees Maureen flirting with another woman. Outside, after being scolded by Joanne, Maureen proposes to her, and Joanne accepts. Forward to their engagement party, where Maureen flirts with yet another woman. Angry, Joanne threatens to leave her, while Maureen becomes angry at Joanne for "making" her be too monogamous ("Take Me Or Leave Me"). They then walk out on each other. Benny has repossessed all of Roger's and Mark's things, but it is revealed that Mimi later had dinner with Benny and he had changed his mind. Roger finds out, and believes that she is cheating on him with Benny. During the next song, Mimi resumes her drug habit and falls into a state of despair, while Angel gets progressively sicker and eventually dies ("Without You").The next scene is Angel's funeral in a large church. Collins and everyone else at the funeral perform the same song he and Angel had sung with each other earlier ("I'll Cover You" reprise). After this, Roger and Mimi argue about their past relationship, along with Joanne and Maureen. In their argument, Roger reveals that he has sold his guitar, bought a car, and is planning to leave for Santa Fe ("Goodbye Love"). After he arrives in Santa Fe he discovers that he still loves Mimi and decides to return. During this time Mark decides to finish his own film and quits his job at Buzzline ("What You Own"). However after Roger returns he finds out that Mimi has quit rehab and has gone missing. After a while, Joanne and Maureen find her at a park. She had been living on the streets. As she is about to die, Roger sings the song he has been writing over the last year ("Your Eyes"). Mimi is near death, but regains consciousness and says, "I was heading toward this warm, white light. And I swear, Angel was thereand she looked good! [Collins laughs.] She told me, 'Turn around, girlfriend, and listen to that boy's song.'" The six friends perform the finale. During the last song ("Finale B"), we see Mark's documentary, entitled "Today 4 U: Proof Positive" ( Today 4 U was the song Angel sang when he first met Roger and Mark) with the last frame being Angel, out of drag, holding his hand up to the light | comedy, philosophical, home movie | train | imdb | null |
tt0068649 | The Gore Gore Girls | Nancy Weston (Amy Farrell), a reporter for The Globe, approaches Abraham Gentry (Frank Kress), an obnoxious private investigator, and offers him $25,000 on behalf of The Globe to investigate the brutal murder of stripper Suzie Cream Puff (Jackie Kroeger). She sweetens the deal with a $25,000 bonus for solving the case. Of course this comes contingent that The Globe gets the exclusive story. Gentry takes the case and begins the investigation of the murder with Weston in tow. When at the club, Gentry encounters a waitress, Marlene (Hedda Lubin), whose obnoxiousness rivals his. He gets through her to speak to another stripper and gets his first suspect, Joseph Carter.
Soon, another stripper, Candy Cane, gets murdered and Gentry expands his suspect list to Grout (Ray Sager), an unstable veteran who takes pride in crushing the heads of corpses he found when on the battlefields of Vietnam. He relieves tension by drawing faces on squashes and tomatoes and then crushing them with his bare hands. Gentry also suspects the leader of a radical feminist group that riots in the strip club, carrying banners with catchy phrases like "Lewd is Crude", "Quit with Tit" and "Women Right On!". Pickles, another stripper, is murdered and has her buttocks mutilated with a meat tenderizer hammer before having it salt and peppered. A badge with "Women Right On!" is found at the scene.
Meanwhile, Gentry buys Weston many drinks to keep her drunk and out of his way. During one of Weston's drunken episodes she admits she's attracted to Gentry. Gentry ignores this and concentrates on the case. His investigation takes him to the owner of the strip clubs in town, Mr. Marzdone Mobilie (Henny Youngman). Gentry then coerces Mobilie into holding an amateur stripper contest with a $1,000 prize, which also works as the beginning of a plan for Gentry's trap.
After having a few too many drinks, Gentry encourages Weston to perform the amateur stripper contest in which she goes all out by "taking it all off" and wins the $1,000 cash prize. Gentry accompany's Weston back to her apartment and lets her rest on her couch as he seemingly leaves. Soon, the killer arrives and Gentry, who anticipated that the killer would do just that, appears after hiding behind a door and takes off the killer's hood revealing Marlene. He also further reveals more when he pulls off her shirt revealing burn marks on her chest, literally obscuring her breasts. After a brief struggle, Marlene falls out a balcony window and lands on the street below where her head is crushed by an oncoming car.
Gentry then reveals his case in a long monologue to Nancy Weston about following the clues which Gout told him earlier about Marlene being burned in a fire which her breasts were burned off. This drew the conclusion that she was killing all those strippers out of jealousy and hatred to their own beauty which Marlene's was now taken from her. Weston is somewhat angry that Gentry used her as bait to trap Marlene into revealing herself as the killer, but accepts for the risk was worth it. Gentry and Weston profess their love for each other as she tells him that the story will make a great contribution to the Globe and both of them get "down to business" (making out), before Gentry looks at the camera and tells the viewers that it's over and to leave them alone.
The closing title card then appears reading: "We announce with pride: this movie is over!" | violence, absurd, cult, murder, sadist | train | wikipedia | SPOILER: The last gore film of Herschell Gordon Lewis is perhaps one of his goriest and remarkably one of his funniest..intentional and unintentional.
Frank Kress as Abraham Gentry certainly also is one of the best actors ever used in a lead in a Lewis film.
Henny Youngman, the only big name to grace any of Lewis's horror films, stars as a night club owner and talks so fast you will have trouble hearing what he says!
The photographers in each murder scene are hilarious as is the general mood of the film when some poor girl isn't losing appendages, skin, or having her eyes gouged out.
Herschell Gordon Lewis' movies are an acquired taste, and 'The Gore Gore Girls' is a perfect example of this.
"The Gore Gore Girls" is Herschell Gordon Lewis' best film.
And for good measure, be sure to recall that the killer added a little bit of seasoning to the carnal creation.Add all this to the fact the film co-stars Lewis' most charming and attractive actress yet (Amy Farrell as reporter Nancy Weston) and we have a winner of a film.
I am not really sure what to make of that, but it seems all too proper in a flick like this.The commentary track is also quite informative, as Lewis will point out Ray Sager (he is easy to miss), talk about Henny Youngman's denial of being in the film, and explain why he disappeared from movies for thirty years.
Legendary splatter master Herschell Gordon Lewis takes violence just about as far as he can in the standout scenes of this typically insane film.
Nancy Weston (Amy Farrell), a ditzy reporter for a newspaper, hires renowned private detective Abraham Gentry (Frank Kress) to determine who the murderer is.
A movie like this could only have been created by the "Godfather of Gore" Herschell Gordon Lewis.
Not as good as some of Herschell Gordon Lewis 's other films , but I did like it.
The Gore Gore Girls is a pretty solid exploitation picture from legend Herschell Gordon Lewis.
This has the most savage gore of all the films Herschell Gordon Lewis made at this point.
In between the sex and violence the film tends to get a bit boring.I would have preferred an all out camp approach that Herschell Gordon Lewis has applied in his other films ,but The Gore Gore Girls is still cheap and trashy enough for me to dig it ..
OK i have seen Hershall Gordon Lewis movies before but this one really takes the cake,its really gory and gross,not to mention disgusting the way the strippers are done in,I'm talking bad acting that makes plan 9 from outer space look like hamlet,the only saving grace is the late great Henny Youngman as the strip club owner,yeah take my wife..., please.the stripteasers are real sexy for 1972,i believe they used this same plot again in the Roger Corman movie;stripped to kill in 1987.i did enjoy the earlier H.G.Lewis flick 100 maniacs,which was a mini masterpiece of sorts,but bad acting,no awards here,but be aware this is a splatter movie that paved the way for Friday the 13th,and saw.in one disturbing scene a half naked stripper has her butt spanked with a meat tenderizer.ugh!morbid stuff here.H.G. Lewis strikes again.
ok- yes this movie is dated (it's from 1972 for C****t sake!!!)but this is one of the most fun, gory, drive-in style flicks of all time!!!as i've said in previous reviews, i revere HG Lewis as a GOD in the horror world for bringing to the screen things that you still don't see in modern-day films.
i love good ol' exploitation gore flicks, and saw a lot of terrible movies, but his one is plain bad.
The acting is at least on par with that of more acclaimed films of the time such as Shaft of French Connection; in particular, Frank Kress, though perhaps not the most photogenic actor, delivers an impressively competent and smooth performance as Abraham Gentry, the all-knowing hero.
Low-budget schlockmeister Herschell Gordon Lewis reaches a new low (even for him) with "The Gore Gore Girls," a 'film' (snicker) that possesses all of his technical trademarks: badly-recorded sound, poor lighting, and OTT gore.
Completely unlikable pompous-ass private investigator Abraham Gentry (Frank Kress) is recruited by a newspaper reporter to find out who's been murdering out-of-shape strippers (you'll stop caring who the culprit is long before these two are wrapping up the case).
"The Gore Gore Girls".Here is a film so silly,campy and bad,that watching this film is like committing a criminal act.Although,it is not a criminal act to watch this film,I myself felt victimized by this extreme waste of garbage that actually is a cult classic.Alright,maybe it's not but it can be being that Herschell Gordon Lewis directed it.His films ranging from "Blood Feast" to "2000 Maniacs" have achieved cult following.
Each of the films have a comic look to them that are not even funny.The gore scenes even though some of them look awfully fake can still be unsettling.There is probably enough gore in this film to fill up an entire empty bucket.My guess is that when they made this film they took that bucket and tossed out the story and the acting and the direction and replaced it with an hour and a half of pure waste.Life can be short.I had to waste part of it on this trash.Maybe I'll rent another Herschell Gordon Lewis film to see if he'll out do himself.He usually does by making one film after another that gets worse and worse..
The commentary is amusing in parts, and interesting (I think HG said the budget was $6100.00) Maybe HG Lewis wasn't feeling well that day, but he sounded tired overall and also had the nerve to get offended when the interviewer from Something Wild compared him to Ed Wood Jr. Sorry pal, but you're not exactly Martin Scorsese yourself.The extremely thin plot is about a series of murders of topless go-go dancers in strip clubs.
Henny Youngman is kind of funny though, like Lewis says, he said his lines so fast that they almost needed subtitles (I'm sure he was trying to get the whole day over in a hurry so he could get paid and get the hell out of there, though he doesn't look like he minded watching some naked chicks).Might be worth seeing just out of morbid curiosity- for the era the movie was made, it was probably the most gruesome thing on film at the time- or if you're really big HG Lewis fan and find him or low-budget film-making by anyone fascinating.
If you've never seen an HG Lewis movie, I recommend you try "Blood Feast" first instead, you'll have a much better time..
When the go-go dancers from a chain of strip clubs start turning up horrifically mutilated, a newspaper, hoping to land a scoop, sends pretty reporter Nancy (Amy Farrell) to hire the services of genius private eye Abraham Gentry (Frank Kress).
G. Lewis's infamous 'classic' gore movies, The Gore Gore Girls is another low budget piece of trash featuring shoddy acting, technically poor direction, and buckets of unconvincing gore.
That said, the film does have a certain period charm (check out those strippers groovy dance routines!), an 'engaging' performance from Kress as the pompous P.I., and a fun tongue-in-cheek vibe that makes the nastier moments more palatable.Fans of movie-kitsch will no doubt revel in the trashy strip-club scenes, the swinging soundtrack, and the nasty fashions, whilst gore-hounds will go ga-ga as the killer slashes and mashes his victims' features to a messy pulp, tenderises a woman's butt, sticks another's head in boiling oil, and, best of all, irons a girl's face before snipping off her nipples with a pair of scissors.
None of this looks real, but it's still shocking stuff, particularly considering the time this was made.Unfortunately, in between the 'fun' there is some dreadfully dull padding (several desperately unfunny comedy scenes featuring inept cops and some crap about womens-libbers) and anyone expecting anything other than 80 minutes or so of pure cheesy schlock will most likely be sorely disappointed..
Like most of H.G. Lewis' films, no one takes it seriously and that's what I enjoy about this movie.Recommended for campy horror film fans.B. About what you'd expect from Herschell Gordon Lewis.
Aside from Frank Kress (who played Abraham Gentry), an appearance by Henny Youngman and the last seconds of the movie, there really wasn't anything particularly good about this film.
In the 1960s and 70s, Lewis was known for making a string of incredibly low budget exploitation films, such as BLOOD FEAST and MONSTER A GO-GO.
But to have them doing some of the sick acts, even if unrealistic, is pretty nasty and shows a lot of misogyny.The only hope in the film, as the police are all idiots, is a guy named Abraham Gentry--whose mannerisms and style of speech are very close to the stock actor, David Lochary, from the early John Waters films.
I'm trying to see all of HGL's films and that's probably the only reason to see this one.The gore is good as usual, the one thing that Herschell seemed to get right.
Say what you will about cinema's "Wizard of Gore," Herschell Gordon Lewis, it must be conceded that from his first films (1963's trashy "Blood Feast" and 1964's crackerbarrel massacre "Two Thousand Maniacs") to his last (1972's "The Gore Gore Girls"), the man remained faithful to his muse, gleefully chopping up the bodies of young men and women for the delectation of the camera.
The film features remarkably annoying and repetitive background music, terrible lighting, abysmal acting, repugnant characters, problematic sound AND, of course, some of Lewis' patented gross-out scenes.
I love camp movies, believe me and the usual technicolorian gore of Gordon Lewis don't bother me at all, but this is just one of his most stupid movies, even more than BLOOD FEAST, i'm not kidding.
Jason Bateman's character then asks if she's ever seen a Herschel Gordon Lewis film, and to wit he has a copy of a movie (I forget which at the moment) and shows it to her.
In other words, Herschel Gordon Lewis's reputation is maintained some many years after he ended making his gore films - and it's that of a schlock-Meister, no more no less.
He can't direct actors worth a damn, he lights like it's a porno movie, and for every one possibly clever or funny one-liner there's ten that either totally stink or are too clever by half or not clever nearly enough.That being said, perhaps as the best substantive thing to say about The Gore Gore Girls, a mystery movie about a detective (2nd rate Sherlock Holmes guy played by somewhat amusing Frank Kress) and a newspaper reporter (dummie Amy Farrell) investigating a series of murders of go-go dancers, is that it serves as the template for countless more Troma-style pictures.
So long as you know what to expect from a HG Lewis movie, you'll have no problems with viewing The Gore Gore Girls.
The film features all the trademarks of a HG movie, including disgusting blood and gore and, of course, plenty of naked chicks.
Overall, The Gore Gore Girls is a bad film; but it's so funny that it's hard not to like it..
And in 1972, Herschell Gordon Lewis, the creator of the gore film, and innovator of graphic violence in cinema, had his last hurrah.
Of course it does...While I consider this to be Herschell Gordon Lewis' most overrated (gore) film, I can understand why so many considers this the ultimate in HGL gore.
GGG is certainly Herschell Gordon Lewis' most violent film however keeps its tongue firmly in cheek and showcases some directorial flourishes that, sadly, HG Lewis could not expand upon as THE GORE GORE GIRLS was the last in his exploitation series.The plot basically surrounds a young, naive female reporter Nancy, a suave private eye named Abraham who would give James Bond a run for his money, strippers and a crazed killer who mutilates the face of their victims.
Abraham and Nancy must then dredge through the club's patrons in order to find the killer before they strike again and, in doing so, meet a variety of morally devoid freaks and, more amusingly, a womens rights group.THE GORE GORE GIRLS is, in my opinion, HG Lewis' best film and a real improvement on some of his earlier exploitation work such as BLOOD FEAST and THE GRUESOME TWOSOME and is certainly the most intentionally funny and graphically violent of his works.
The bizarrely effeminate ace private-eye, Abraham Gentry, is hired by the most unlikely journalist in cinema history to investigate the brutal murders of a bunch of third-rate go-go dancers working out of a sleazy strip club.
"The Gore Gore Girls" was Lewis's horror film swan song, and ends with a head being squashed by an automobile.
Yes. I really did try to cut this imbecilic, z-grade slasher-trash/horror film some serious slack due to its low budget ($64,000) and the era that it came from (1972).But - Let me tell ya - If ever there was a crazed killer movie that deserved a minus-10 rating - Then - "The Gore Gore Girls" would definitely be it - 'Cause it was absolute rubbish.This film's story (that was aimed at a pure "white-trash" mentality) repeatedly encouraged the viewer to laugh out loud at women being brutally and sadistically murdered - And, it drove home the point that these women deserved exactly what was coming to them.Prior to "The Gore Gore Girls" - Filmmaker, H.G. Lewis had been directing films in this same narrow-minded genre for 10 years (with 30 films under his belt).And, yet - In all of that time Lewis' skills in his craft had not improved one bit since "Day One" with the word "amateur" and "inept" written all over "The Gore Gore Girls" from its boring start to its totally anti-climatic finish....
I'm a big Herschell Gordon Lewis fan, having seen most of his films at least a dozen times apiece.
Even with all the nudity and graphic gore effects, this is a tired, halfhearted film, and the banter exchanged by private eye Frank Kress and strip club waitress Hedda Lubin falls embarrassingly flat.
Gory Fun. Gore Gore Girls, The (1972) ** (out of 4) A polished detective (Frank Kress) and snappy reporter (Amy Farrell) are investigating the strange cases where strippers are being found mutilated with their heads bashed in.
This would be the last film Lewis would direct until his comeback nearly thirty-years later with BLOOD FEAST 2 and it was a pretty good way to go out.
With that said, fans of gore will certainly find a lot of that here and overall I had a pretty good time with the movie.
All in all this clearly isn't the director's best film but fans of gore will certainly want to check it out for all the crazy death scenes..
"The Gore Gore Girls" is a deliciously dark tale from "Master of Exploitative Horror On A Shoe-String Budget" Herschell Gordon Lewis.
The people involved, in front of and behind the camera, are very well aware that they are simply creating a gross, vulgar, sleazy piece of garbage and thus the film is a success on it's own very limited terms.After an "exotic striptease artist" named Suzie Creampuff has her face mangled on a broken mirror, loopy tabloid magazine writer Nancy Weston (Amy Farrell) decides to offer famous, arrogant, wisecracking detective Abraham Gentry (Frank Kress) 25,000 dollars to find the killer.
There's plenty more gore as more throats are slashed, eyeballs are popped out and squashed, skin is melted off in a boiling pot of French fries, a face is fried with a hot iron and, most memorably, nipples are cut off with scissors, spewing out milk (regular and chocolate!) The dialogue, especially comments from brain dead cop on the case Lt. Anderson (Russ Badger) and the long dialogue scenes between Nancy and Abraham and their "cute" little come-ons can be painful, but it's all good dumb fun.
"Face mutilated with a meat tenderiser, throat slit &, erm, this one had her ass beat in." Possibily Herschell Gordon Lewis's best film..
The local paper sends the young attractive reporter Nancy Weston (Amy Farrell) with a cheque for $25,000 to sweet talk the famous private detective Abraham Gentry (Frank Kress) into investigating & solving the murder which will also make for a nice little story.
As the list of victims continue to grow Gentry decides he must devise a plan to lure the killer out into the open...Scored, produced & directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis who also has a special effects credit The Gore Gore Girls is his swansong, his final exploitation film although he did make a brief return to film-making with Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat (2002) a few years back, The Gore Gore Girls is probably my favourite film of his that I have seen.
The Gore Gore Girls is one of the best exploitation films out there, it entertains big style if you like this sort of stuff.
Although these scenes look quite fake Lewis likes to linger on the gore & they are pretty gross.
Overall I like The Gore Gore Girls a lot, it's good fun if you look at it in the right way as it's brutal & gory but it also has a comic element to it which lightened the tone.
Again, I loved all the gore and was better than other Herschell Gordon Lewis films.
This was my second HGL movie after the Wizard of Gore, and I quite enjoyed it.The plot revolves around a private investigator and a journalist teaming up to figure out why strippers from the same company are being killed horribly.First of all, Frank Kress as Abe Gentry made this movie for me.
Herschell Gordon Lewis's last film before he retired to the direct marketing world and returned one more time with "Blood Feast 2". |
tt1632547 | Tsumetai nettaigyo | In an unhappy home, Mr. Shamamto (Mitsuru Fukikoshi) lives with his second wife Taeko (Megumi Kagurazaka) and daughter Mitsuko (Hikari Kajiwara) from first marriage. The daughter is filled with rage that her father remarried so shortly after her mother's death. The stepmother lives with the guilt that perhaps she is the cause of her stepdaughter's troubles. In this uneasy enviornment, Mr. Shamamoto runs "Shamoto's Tropical Fish Store" out of their home.Then on a rainy evening Mr. Shamoto receives a phone call and learns his daughter has been caught for shoplifting. Mr. Shamamoto and his wife quickly leave for the store. When they arrive, they find a furious manager in the back storeroom berating their daughter. The Shamoto's apologize profusely, but their words fail to appease the seething manager, who believes this isn't the first time their daughter has stolen from the store. In fact, the manager is threatening to call the police.Suddenly, a seemingly mild manner man walks into the storeroom and attempts to pacify the manager. The man's name is Mr. Murata (Denden) and he is the owner of "Amazon Gold Tropical Fish Store". Mr. Murata is also the person that reported their daughter to the manager. The man has a way with his words and in no time the manager is wrapped around his finger. Before leaving the store, Mr. Murata invites the Shamoto family to visit his tropical fish store, which is only a few miles away. While leaving the store he offers to drive their daughter in his brand new red ferrari.When the Shamoto's arrive at "Amazon Gold Tropical Fish Store" they are amazed by the vast selection of fishes and the sheer expansiveness of the store. They also meet Mr Murata's wife (Asuka Kurosawa). During their chat at the store Mr. Murata offers their daughter a job at "Amazon Gold Tropical Fish Store" and boarding at his workplace. He currently has 6 other employees living in his company dormitory. The Shamoto's, already in awe of Mr. Murata's success, do not refuse his offer. Their willingness to let their daughter stay & work there is partly due to their troubled daughter's need for help and partly due to the parents need for privacy in their small home. Unfortunately for the Shamotos, they soon learn that not all that glitters is gold and in fact they have fallen under the spell of a cold blooded serial killer. | violence, psychological, murder | train | imdb | Shamoto tries to go against the grain, to say 'I don't want things to be like this.' But he finds himself alone against everything and has to learn some unpleasant truths about the world.This is a very bleak movie and over-the-top in its negativity.
Thrills, suspense, evil, yakuza, budding capitalist, hot women who flaunt their bodies, sex and of course murder.What else can you ask for especially when in each case everything is done to an 11?Compare this film to the copy/paste, reboot, remake, sequel routine that studio tools and hacks like JJ Abrams are putting out and you will see why America has become the laughing stock of the world.
After been shocked and transformed in Miike's transgressive "Visitor Q" a decade ago, I once again find a movie that hits me in the face and that I will be thinking about for days, weeks, months and years to come.
Its part horror, part black comedy (its extremely funny at times), part serial killer movie, with a huge dollop of allegory about business and Japanese society.
For that purpose there are far more gory "entertainment" out there to laugh or giggle at.If you're a fan of really dark thrillers with drama and characters with depth then you'll definitely love this movie.
There is a brooding intelligence behind all of his films.This is a very stark violent film and one that has the most provocative dialogue.Much broader questions are being asked outside of the action.I think that it is no coincidence that Guilty of Romance,Suicide Club, Love Exposure and this film are all based upon true events.I think that Sion's dark humour helps to elevate his films above the genre of just shock horror.There is a lot of breast grabbing and an intoxication with sexual pleasure in this film.Sexual acts are often violent and deviant in his films and the bizarre Christian symbolism is odd and challenging.I really liked how the candles were lit on the alter using a spray can.
I am interested that other reviewers have mentioned," Visitor Q", and I would add ,"I Saw the Devil", as possibly the most disturbing films that I have seen..Murata in this film is introduced as a friendly kind man with an obsession with fish.His character openly refers to how he was abused as a child later in the film.His wife however a woman who enjoys sexual gratification at any time and in all forms is probably the most depraved character in the film.All of the madness includes strange around the table tableau's of normal?
i've watched a few Japanese movies in recent years and mostly they are nearly always really interesting films.
Cold Fish has to be the strangest Japanese film i have ever seen.This is the story of two men who own two very different tropical fish stores and they are two men who have very different and extreme personalities.This is a very graphic and violent movie that contains scenes that must have put the actors through the ringer.
The physical and sexual violence is very real , it's just a shame that the film is far too long and that makes the extreme scenes lose their edge the longer the film goes on.I cant begin to explain the moral's of the story and i'm not even sure i liked this film but i can appreciate what the actors went through.If you interested in watching something very , very different , then Cold Fish will be right up your street..
Nobuyuki Syamoto (Mitsuru Fukikoshi) muddles though life with a new wife, a daughter who shoplifts, and a crummy little fish store.
Sion Sono's latest, (very) loosely based on actual events, confirms the director as being one of the most inventive currently working in cinema today.This bleak tale of repressed, inhibited tropical fish store owner Mr. Shamoto, who when coerced into business partnership by fellow tropical fish vendor Mr. Murata, eventually leads him to violence and serial murder.This may be the blackest of black comedies you will see all year, but it is also the most furiously original and thought provoking.This years Visitor Q, if you will..
Mild mannered Nobuyuki Shamoto (Mitsuru Fukikoshi), owner of a modest tropical fish shop, lives with his pretty teenage daughter Mitsuki (Hikari Kajiwara) and surprisingly hot second wife Taeko (Megumi Kagurazaka); sadly, the women in his life do not see eye to eye (to put it mildly).
Brash, charismatic, and cunning Murata uses this as an opportunity to begin manipulating the grateful Shamoto family, offering desperate Mitsuki a job as one of his store girls (all of whom are pretty, and wear tight vests and short shorts!), bringing meek Yukio under his wing as his apprentice, and sneaking a shag with the not-very-content Taeko.Murata also reveals to a Nobuyuki his unique method of dealing with difficult acquaintances: he poisons them and then, with help from his obedient and rather sexy wife Aiko (Asuka Kurosawa), takes the bodies to a remote shack where he makes them 'disappear' (ie., chops them up, burns the bones, and sprinkles the remains in the woods).
When Murata insists that Yukio help dispose of a victim, he is too shocked and scared too refuse; now, as an accomplice to murder, he finds himself trapped by the over-bearing and frankly quite scary Murata—fearful not only for himself, but also for the lives of his wife and daughter.However, a man can only be pushed so far: after several more stomach-churning visits to the shack, learning of his wife's infidelity, suffering a beating from Murata, and being forced to have sex with Aiko (the poor guy!), Nobiyuki finally snaps, attacking Mr and Mrs Murata with a biro (not the greatest of weapons, perhaps, but it does the trick).
The now empowered Nobiyuki also sets about straightening out his ungrateful wife and daughter, using methods definitely NOT sanctioned by most family guidance counsellors.Other reviews here on IMDb comment on what a harsh viewing experience Cold Fish is, with its brutal murders, bodily dismemberment, rape and in your face gore; but while it's certainly not what I'd call family viewing, I wasn't too fazed by the extreme content, finding much of the film darkly humorous rather than disturbing (but then I've watched a fair few gruesome Asian movies in my time, and am probably a tad desensitised).
Although the beginning of Cold Fish had stated that it was based on a true story, I had taken this with a large pinch of salt (so many movies make this wild claim); as it happens, most of what director Shion Sono depicts proves to be not all that far from the truth (at least until Nobiyuki snaps), making his film a lot more chilling in retrospect..
Things start out slowly, but soon you are thrown into the twisted world of that which is Cold Fish.Deeply entangled Mr. Shamoto meets fellow fish store owner Mr. Murato, where his world we be slowly turned upside down.
I'll begin by saying it's a long film, clocking in at almost 2 and a half hours and in the early stages you may feel you're watching some whimsical Japanese drama until it's dark underbelly starts to reveal itself.
The story begins with a timid tropical fish shop owner and his second wife being called to a store where his daughter has been caught shoplifting.
The part is played wonderfully and within a very short space of time we get to see just how psychopathic he really is, and it turns out his crazy wife Aiko is pretty much the same as him.Im not going to give anything away, but this movie has gore, rape, misogyny, and a few other sordid tasty bits that many may find unsettling.
It's interesting though that movies like Cold Fish were passed uncut in the UK by our wonderful censors, yet some flicks from way back when still haven't been passed in uncut versions here.
I just can't imagine a movie like Cold Fish getting remade and released to UK cinemas however as I can see the Daily Mail headline "ban this filth" already.
Take the business with fish here: the main idea of the film is that we are caught between manipulators who are putting on a show and gradually learn to manipulate from our end to become one, now what better way to posit this in a visual manner than by extrapolating many times over through fish inside acquariums framed for beauty but possibly deadly?This is like many of those old exploitation films from the 70's, toothless pretending to have some bite..
I never thought i would be laughing during a rape scene...This film starts very normal and slowly gets more screwed up as the story progresses, this is a must watch for any dark comedy fan.
Director Shion Sono (known for "Noriko's Dinnertable" and "Suicide Club") has put together yet another odd, bizarre, yet entertaining movie with the filming of "Cold Fish" (aka "Tsumetai nettaigyo").While "Cold Fish" is not suitable to everyone, given its slow pace, contents of the story or just because it is Japanese.
However, you should transcend these and sit down to watch "Cold Fish", because you are in for a very different type of movie.The story is about a small time seller of tropical fish named Nobuyuki who is given a chance to have his criminal daughter work at the biggest tropical fish store and he himself will have a chance to become business partners with Murata, the owner of the big store.
I was thoroughly entertained by the story with its depravities, oddities, bizarreness and bloodiness.What really worked for "Cold Fish" was the all round phenomenal cast.
The lead roles played by Misuru Fukikoshi (playing Nobuyuki) and Denden (playing Yukio Murata) were great actors and really carried the movie well.
A shame that the women didn't have more on-screen time though.The effects and gore, yes it has gore too, was actually quite good, despite it not being a focal point for the movie itself.If you enjoy Asian movies then you should most certainly sit down and treat yourself to some "Cold Fish"..
Just finished watching this movie and I must say, anyone who's a fan of East Asian horror flicks will like this film.
Cold fish is about a meek guy Syamoto and his life which is turned upside down when a fish store owner Murata and his wife enter his life.
In his first scene you might think Murata might do a better job at stand up comedy than owning a fish store, only till the movie's developments prove you wrong.
But Cold Fish sets itself apart as it picks a family next door right from it's normal mundane life situations and throws it into this disturbingly bloody world on screen.
All this is done brilliantly, however, if the movie was a tad-bit shorter, I would have liked it even more.The manic Murata (Syamoto's business partner, in some ways), played by Denden is a complex creature.
If 'Straw Dogs' was a shocker for the seventies, 'Cold Fish' is a wake up call; digging into the audiences' minds by using the voluptuous Megumi Kagurazaka as Taeko, the wife of Syamoto and the inciting Hikari Kajiwara.
Cold Fish, in so many words is 'Straw Dogs (1971)' taking a jet to Japan, into fish stores that look like LSD drain-houses and makes it shake hands with guts and gore.
Cold Fish, in so many words is 'Straw Dogs (1971)' taking a jet to Japan, into fish stores that look like LSD drain-houses and makes it shake hands with guts and gore.
He puts on Murata's skin and does not take it off, even when he offers a severed 'something' to our 'hero' to feel it.If 'Straw Dogs' was a shocker for the seventies, 'Cold Fish' is a wake up call; digging into the audiences' minds by using the voluptuous Megumi Kagurazaka as Taeko, the wife of Syamoto and the inciting Hikari Kajiwara.
Shamoto is a tropical fish seller, who is at odds with his rather dysfunctional family, namely his rebellious daughter Mitsuko, and his new wife Taeko.
Director Sion Sono has said that he wanted to "depict a sense of total hopelessness" which he felt is "lacking in Japanese films." (The Tokyo Reporter, Nov 28, 2010).
Cold Fish was a film I was really itching to see, not necessarily because of its story but because of its genre: Asian Extreme.
Can Shamoto find a sensible way out of this predicament, or will end up a stone cold killer like the man who claims to have found his apprentice.
There is a lot of depravity and violence throughout the film, much of it pushing the boundaries of tastefulness to the point that several audience members left half way through, several other during the final act.
Murata is wacky, over the top, and down right evil at times, but it's so perfect, the film needed a vivid and crazy character to give it a necessary black comedy element and it got that and much more.
In a perfect world, this guy would be nominated for a best supporting actor award, sadly performances like this get lost in translation, even still Murata commands and controls the film throughout; it's also helpful that our lead actor isn't fleshed out or acted nearly as well.
As far as cinematic depictions of rape go, I can tell myself it's just a film, but even still, Cold Fish subjects the viewer to a brutal rape scenes that go on to long and to far into perverse and wrongful territories that it became hard to take, or even justify as valid entertainment.
In what will very likely be the most brutal of the films this year, Sion Sono's latest film Cold Fish purports at the start that it's "based on a true story." Doing a little research one finds that it is based on a story of serial killers, albeit dog breeders instead of fish.
But this isn't to say Sono likely doesn't take some liberties in his story, despite (or with the help of) those title cards saying what the date and time is conveniently and then when it comes to the real crunch time of madness in the climax of the film there's even a stop-watch time code on the screen running even milliseconds as to the countdown of events.
It's a neat trick, perhaps the only real 'device' that Sono allows himself amid the naked honesty of the emotions of the characters.It's the story of a two fish store owners, one the timid but 'normal' Shamoto (Mitsuru Fukikoshi) husband to a second wife (beautiful Kagurazaka) and father of a daughter who is not hers.
His daughter is caught one night shoplifting but comes to the attention at the store of a loud-but-seemingly-cheery other fish store owner, Murata (Denden).
Turns out it's not too far off an assumption.After Murata somehow convinces Shamoto's daughter to become one of his 'girls' who works at the fish store (and in the midst of his 'gettin-to- know-you-family' stuff has his way with Shamoto's wife), he drags the meek guy further into his darker pastime: he kills people, he and his wife Aiko (bubbly Kurosawa), who take a body from a guy who basically looks at Murata the wrong way to chop him up into little pieces and spill the parts into the nearby river.
For the Japanese, and for a character as emotionally bottled up as Shamoto, who's only release is looking at the stars, a guy like Murata is both the best and worst thing that's ever happened to him (best as in he does finally open up emotionally, worst in that his life will forever be in misery and madness).
Although COLD FISH is the third film I've seen from cult Japanese director Sion Sono, following on from SUICIDE CLUB and EXTE, it's the first that feels like the work of an auteur rather than just a director-for-hire.
I liked the protagonist's mild-mannered nature, which makes him feel realistic, although it's Denden who gives the film's most show-stopping performance.
Otherwise it's a wild ride involving perverse sex, anger, violence, murder, some extreme gore scenes, and a film that feels like something fellow auteur Park Chan-wook would have made.
"Nobuyuki Syamoto" (Mitsuru Fukikoshi ) is a quiet and unassuming man who owns a tropical fish store and simply wants to live in peace.
Unfortunately, the director (Shion Sono) seemed to get carried away with the blood and gore towards the last third of the film which severely impacted the movie as a whole.
Sono Shion amps it up in this tale of a tropical fish store owner, Shamoto, who crosses paths with alpha male Murata and finds his weaknesses exposed and inner strengths tested to the limit.The film is part gorefest, part schlockfest, and very, very bloody.
Like Love Exposure, this film is too long, and enjoys exploiting its female characters too much.
Some of the violence was a bit unnecessary and just for shock value, but at the same time, it sets you up for the twisted reversal of relationships that come in the end and serves as a catalyst for helping a lost family face themselves in all their ugliness..
'I hope you like cold fish' is probably the sexiest thing I'll ever hear a French girl say.Completely out of context, 'Cold Fish' is the latest work of 'Love Exposure' director, Sion Sono.
Being that it is over four hours long – and not even I can be arsed to sit through a film for that long – I have never seen 'Love Exposure', and so this was my first experience of Sono's work.The old 'based on a true story', then grossly exaggerated for cinema premise, we see boring, dull, pet fish shop owner, Shamoto and his family's lives turned upside down when the big and brash, tropical fish shop owner, Murata walks into them.What follows is a pretty standard offering, with violence, blood and sex thrown in for 'shocks', and it's all pretty entertaining, in a popcorn- movie kind of a way. |
tt0037824 | Ivan Groznyy | In 1547, Ivan IV, then Archduke of Muscovy (Nikolai Cherkasov), crowns himself as Tsar of all the Russias in the cathedral. We see the crown, and then the elaborate ritual of coronation. In the sidelines, aristocratic attendees, the boyars, whisper expressing discontent at his elevation. Among them is Ivan's aunt, Efrosinia Staritskaya (Serafima Birman), who wants to advance her son Dmitri, a simpleton.Ivan proclaims his will to recover lost territories, unite and protect Russia against foreign armies outside her borders, and the enemies within, announcing that absolute rule with an iron fist will be imperative. In a series of reaction shots, we see that boyars, officials and clergymen wanted a puppet ruler, and are unpleasantly surprised.Soon Ivan marries Anastasia Romanovna (Lyudmila Tselikovskaya), and a wedding celebration takes place. The marriage causes him to lose his two best friends, Prince Andrei Kurbsky (Mikhail Nazvanov), a warrior who wanted both power and the hand of Anastasia, and Fyodor Kolychev (Andrei Abrikosov). The latter receives Ivan's permission to retreat to a monastery, while Kurbsky insinuates himself to the Tsarina, who repels his advances.The wedding feast is interrupted by news of the burning of several boyar palaces, carried into the Tsar's palace by a mob of the common people who also complain that the Tsar is being led astray by the Tsarina's family, the Glinskys and the Romanovs.Ivan calms the crowd. Fyodor Basmanov (Amvrosi Buchma), a commoner who acted as spokesman for the unruly crowd, is impressed by the Tsar and becomes his loyal supporter.The scene is interrupted by two envoys from the khanate of Kazan, who deliver to Ivan an insulting message and present him, as a gift, with a ceremonial knife with the suggestion that he do himself a favor by using it to commit suicide.Ivan proclaims at once that Russia is at war with Kazan. At the siege of Kazan, A group led by Basmanov digs a tunnel under the city wall and fills it with gunpowder.Kurbsky, nominally in command, is reprimanded by Ivan for senseless brutality: Kurbsky has tied Tartar prisoners within earshot of the walls of Kazan and orders them to shout to the city to surrender. The defending archers immediately kill the prisoners with their arrows. The attack order is given, the gunpowder charges are detonated, and the city of Kazan is captured.After the return from Kazan, Ivan falls seriously ill and is thought to be on his deathbed. Orthodox priests come to give him the last rites. He holds a lit candle over his chest, and a Bible is placed over his head. The elaborate ceremony convinces him he is about to die. With a last burst of energy, Ivan orders those around him to swear allegiance to his son, the infant Dmitri, reminding them of the need for a single ruler to keep Russia united. They demur, with Ivan's aunt, Efrosinia, openly urging others to swear allegiance to her son Vladimir instead.Emotionally overwrought, Ivan collapses and is thought dead. The relatives, celebrating, all begin to swear allegiance to Vladimir, the "boyar tsar" they have hoped for.Meanwhile, Kurbsky is uncertain of his own loyalty, trying to decide between the two sides. Kurbsky believes Ivan dead, so he approaches the Tsarina about joining forces with him, becoming his wife, in exchange for his swearing loyalty to Dmitri. A huge face of Jesus painted on the wall appears to be watching them. The Tsarina runs away from him back to Ivan's bedroom.When the Tsarina returns, she says, "Do not bury a man before he is dead." Kurbsky realizes that Ivan is still alive, and publicly swears his allegiance to Ivan's infant son, Dmitri. Ivan reappears, crediting the anointing for curing him miraculously.Kurbsky is appointed army leader as a reward for his loyalty, and sent to the western border of the kingdom to defend against the Livonians and Poles. At the same time, Ivan dispatches Alexei Basmanov (Amvrosi Buchma), the commoner he sympathizes with, to the south to take care of the Crimean border.The Tsarina now falls ill, and while Ivan is receiving bad news from all fronts, the boyars plot to kill her. A staring duel takes place between the aunt and the wife. Efrosinia comes into the palace with a cup of wine hidden in her robes, into which she puts poison. Just as the royal couple receive word that Kurbsky has defected to the Livonians, Efrosinia slips the cup of wine into the room and listens from behind a wall. The Tsarina has a convulsion and Ivan, looking around for a way to help her, takes the poisoned wine and gives it to her.The dead Tsarina is lying in state in the cathedral, with Ivan mourning below her bier. While a monk reads biblical verses over the body, Ivan questions his own justifications and ability to rule, wondering if his wife's death is God's punishment for him.However, he pulls himself out of it, and sends for Kolychev.At this point, Basmanov arrives, suggesting that Ivan surround himself with men he can trust, "iron men," the Oprichnina, and offers his rather startled son, Fyodor, for service. Ivan accepts the idea, and sets about reorganizing his power base.Town criers announce to the populace that Ivan has quarrels with the Boyars, but not with the commoners or tradesmen. The commoners , led by Basmanov, who become Ivan's loyal retainers cannot understand why he simply does not kill all the boyars who are plotting against him. He abdicates, leaves Moscow and retires to nearby Alexandrov monastery, waiting until the people beg him to return.Not long after, a popular movement organizes a mass march, and an enormous broad line of people walk to Alexandrov to request him to reassume his position of Czar again. He sees them coming from afar, receives their plea, delivers a speech, and becomes stronger with the support of the common Muscovites. | revenge, intrigue, violence | train | imdb | null |
tt2294449 | 22 Jump Street | Two years following their success in the 21 Jump Street program, Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) are back on the streets chasing narcotics. However, after failing in the pursuit of a group of drug dealers led by Ghost (Peter Stormare), Deputy Chief Hardy (Nick Offerman) puts the duo back on the program to work for Captain Dickson (Ice Cube) – now located across the street at 22 Jump Street. Their assignment is to go undercover as college students and locate the supplier of a drug known as "WHY-PHY" (Work Hard? Yes, Play Hard? Yes) that killed a student photographed buying it on campus from a dealer.
At college, Jenko quickly makes friends with a pair of jocks named Zook (Wyatt Russell) and Rooster (Jimmy Tatro), the latter being a prime suspect of the investigation. Jenko starts attending parties with the jocks who do not take as kindly to Schmidt. Meanwhile, Schmidt gets the attention of an art student, Maya (Amber Stevens), by feigning an interest in slam poetry. The two sleep together, to the disapproval of Maya's roommate Mercedes (Jillian Bell), and Schmidt later finds that Maya is the daughter of Captain Dickson, whom Schmidt bragged to about "getting laid", much to Dickson's fury. Despite sleeping together, Maya tells Schmidt not to take it seriously, and he starts to feel left out as Jenko bonds more and more with Zook who encourages him to join the football team.
When Schmidt and Jenko are unable to identify the dealer, they visit Mr. Walters (Rob Riggle) and Eric (Dave Franco) in jail for advice. After confessing the two are having regular intercourse, Walters points out a unique tattoo on the arm of the dealer in the photograph. Whilst hanging out with Zook and Rooster, Jenko notices that Rooster does not have the tattoo but sees it on Zook's arm. Schmidt and Jenko are invited to join the fraternity led by the jocks but Schmidt refuses, furthering the tension between the two as Jenko passes their requirements. They later realize that Zook is not the dealer but rather another customer. Soon afterwards, they find Ghost and his men on campus, but Ghost again evades them. Jenko reveals to Schmidt that he has been offered a football scholarship with Zook and is uncertain about his future as a police officer. Afterwards, Schmidt reveals his true identity and moves out of the dorm, angering Maya.
Spring break arrives and Schmidt goes after Ghost. He is joined by Jenko, so the two can have one final mission together. The pair head to the beach where Ghost is likely to be dealing WHY-PHY. Inside a bar, they find Mercedes, who is Ghost's daughter, giving instructions to other dealers. The pair, backed up by Dickson and the rest of Jump Street, ambush the meeting. Ghost flees, while Mercedes is knocked out by Schmidt. While pursuing Ghost, Jenko is then shot in the shoulder. Ghost attempts to escape in a helicopter; Schmidt and Jenko manage to jump across to it, but they fall into the sea due to Jenko's injured arm. However, Jenko is able to throw a grenade into the helicopter. Ghost celebrates his victory prematurely while the grenade explodes, sending the totaled remains into the sea. Jenko tells Schmidt that he still wants to be a police officer as he believes their differences help their partnership, and the two reconcile in front of a cheering crowd. Dickson approaches them claiming to have a new mission undercover at a med school.
During the credits, Jenko and Schmidt go on to a variety of undercover missions to different schools, which are portrayed as fictional sequels, an animated series, and a toy line. One mission features Detective Booker (Richard Grieco) while another sees the return of Ghost, who survived the helicopter explosion. In a post-credits scene, Walters reveals to Eric that he is late, implying he is pregnant. | comedy, humor, satire, flashback | train | wikipedia | Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum have a great chemistry and you can see and feel, how they enjoyed doing this movie.
Like the first one, 22 Jump Street does a great job observing the different aspects of college life, students and teachers (or professors for that matter).
'22 Jump Street' truly builds on the basis of the first film, further expanding upon the bromantic chemistry between Tatum and Hill creating an even more solid sequel full of good-natured humour and relentless action that made its predecessor such a great film.
If you want to think about what you're watching, or enjoy good story development, or simply see some great acting then there are plenty of movies like Rashomon, Eraserhead, The Man from Earth, Memories of Murder, Hitchcock films, Miyszaki films, or something like Life Is Beautiful or It's A Wonderful Life(I forget which is which, both great).
Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are a great double act and the film provides just the right amount of slapstick humour combined with witty banter and the serious side of undercover police work.
Quickie Review:After a successful undercover drug bust operation in high school, Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) get their next big assignment.
Now in the sequel 22 Jump Street, as Ice Cube so eloquently put it, these "two sons of b***hes are going to college." As the cop duo take on yet another drug ring, they go through multitude of ridiculous yet hilarious situations.
This is a must-see for fans of 21 Jump Street and people who generally like to laugh.Full Review:The original movie, 21 Jump Street, was a surprise hit back in 2012.
Still, I think this is something that you can easily look past because of how enjoyable the movie is.The one purpose of a comedy is to make you laugh, and 22 Jump Street fulfills that requirement consistently throughout the movie.
Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill make a great bromance couple, and although appearing in the disappointing "Ride Along", Ice Cube too is brilliant in this film.Expect non-stop entertainment as excellent humour is mixed with an interesting yet simple plot, heartfelt moments and exciting action.
More importantly the comedy is actually clever, even during some of the scenarios the are more stupid due to some absurdity.22 Jump Street is self-aware of what it is, and pokes fun of itself for being a sequel that follows the formula.
With 22 Jump Street, directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The LEGO Movie) have created a massively entertaining ride, with more antics from the characters we love, and better performances all around.This time around, they're going to college.
Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) must once again go undercover at MC State to bust another drug operation, this time called WHYPHY (work hard?
Captain Dickson (Ice Cube) is also in rare form, delivering some of the film's best moments.This is a testament to Hill and Tatum, who put so much work into creating these characters.
Their chemistry is better than ever, making 22 Jump Street a hilarious buddy comedy.
Try not to laugh when Schmidt does slam poetry to impress a girl, I dare you.What makes 22 Jump Street feel special is its self-referential attitude and countless meta jokes.
Police chief Hardy (Nick Offerman) essentially explains why this movie was made within the first 10 minutes, saying "no one cared about the Jump Street reboot, but you guys got lucky." It's a funny way to be self-deprecating and hilarious at the same time.
While there are plenty of raunchy jokes (right in the crack), the film's best come from its self-referencing.So, now for the all-important question: is 22 Jump Street better than the original?
Two were for slapstick comedy, one was at Ice Cube's death stare, and the final laugh I had was at the end credits (Not because they were funny, but because the entire audience was utterly silent at the forced humour).
22 jump Street pulls off an amazing balancing act between elements of its predecessor whilst adding many new and better plot twists, characters and jokes.This movie is hilarious and fun and wins us over from the start by making fun of itself as a sequel, but like many of its other ongoing jokes, juices this just enough to get maximum laughs without it becoming annoying.22 jump Street should not only be regarded as one of the rare sequels to better an already good first film, but as a case study for all comedy sequels on how to not just replicate predecessors but truly BUILD on them..
I don't understand how people found this funny, "Hell yeah, let's laugh at racist jokes and incoherent and predictable plot, FEEK YUH!!!", this movie is just a big f**k you to everyone, cause the producers don't really give a s*it, you'll pay for it anyway!
What I got was a lot of reviews that describe "bro-mance; explosions; sexiness; best film of the year; top comedy of all times".
I made the mistake of seeing this movie(not to the end) feeling sure that the 7.5 rating wold guarantee a good comedy.
I suspect that there was a wide margin of improvisation during shooting, which Tatum and Hill took advantage of in order to create spontaneous moments of comedy where they laugh at the screenplay and themselves, generating enough smiles to rescue the film to some point, despite the mediocrity from a bland and predictable screenplay.
I remember 21 jump street felt quite fresh, and I can't tell whether this film has lost that charm or perhaps I've grown up a bit and I wouldn't find the original as funny any more as well.
It was clever 5 or 6 years ago, but I'd like to see sequels that try to stand on their own ground without constant winking reference to the fact that 'its not as good as the first'.All in all, I did laugh a few times, but I was restless in the last hour and couldn't wait for it to end.
At times some of the jokes don't work quite as well, but there's enough hilarious moments packed in to make sure the laughs keep coming and mocks every possible detail of the action sequel.
With the likes of this, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and the Lego Movie it's clear that Lord and Miller are quickly becoming 2 of the biggest and best names in comedy using both slapstick and mocking clichés to keep the laughs coming strong.
I don't know whether they intend to do any more sequels, but as long as they maintain the consistently funny films that they have so far I can only hope that they make as many jump streets as they can..
The sequel to 21 Jump Street, is by far the funniest film I have seen this year.
This was probably due to it being the weirdest film I have seen this year also, as you really couldn't predict what was coming next.22 Jump Street has basically the same concept of 21 Jump Street, where Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill playing the two main characters get sent to college to investigate yet another drug case.
When I heard about the plot and seeing the trailer, I was worried they would ruin the movie as like most comedy films, the only funny bits are in the trailer and the story looked the exact same as the first.
The trailer is only a teaser to what really is a great comedy film.If you like the first movie, I would definitely recommend seeing the second as it is on par with 21 Jump Street, or even if I was pushed to make a choice between the two, I would say the second film is funnier than the first..
I don't think 23 Jump Street will be a thing, but I'd love nothing more than for Channing Tatum to work with Jonah and Seth again, but a bit more than just a cameo like in This Is the End. 22 Jump Street.
Round-Up: I really wasn't that impressed with Channing Tatum's acting when he first came on the scene, but he really has become an household name, especially after starring in Magic Mike and G.I. Joe. I particularly didn't like his dancing movies but now that he has starred in comedy and action roles, he has really become an versatile actor who doesn't take himself as seriously as he did in his earlier years.
Anyway, this film has really gone down well with audiences worldwide but it just wasn't my cup of tea.Budget: $50million Worldwide Gross: $331millionI recommend this movie to people who are into there silly comedies about a couple of officers who enrol into a college to find out who is selling drugs to the students.
With subpar acting, weak plot and somewhat bland comedy, the second instalment has much to improve upon.This film recasts familiar faces with Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as costars.
Jonah Hill is funny as always, Channing Tatum is someone I'm getting to like more and more but it's Ice Cube ladies and gentlemen that steals #themothafuckinshow.
Again there were a few jokes that got boring after too many blows and the villains in this movie were't as enjoyable as the ones in the first, but this is a really funny comedy action buddy flick.
I can not understand why actors like Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum or even Ice Cube would bother to play in such a bad written comedy.
Tatum continues to surprise as he clearly has a funny side (it's not all Jonah Hill here); comedy and action movies might just be his wheelhouse.
Ice Cube and Jillian Bell (Dixie from Eastbound & Down) also provide their share of really funny moments (especially Jillian who has a few gut busting scenes with Jonah near the end).I was worried the shtick would feel stale after 21 Jump Street but I was surprised that it was just as funny as the original (if not better).
Everything you've first thought about it turns out to be the other way around, therefore it's a smart surprising trick that you will end up smiling.The plot is absolutely no different from the first: the heroes as actual cops messes with a drug business, decides to better off undercover as students to another case, explore around the culture of the generation, friendship gets a loyalty issue, their targets at the first act turns out to be connected with their current mission, goes to a party, finally faced fears, etc.
The two continue to shine in their buddy comedy figure and it has become the unbreakable core of these movies.The main point of 22 Jump Street is to be a large and mediocre sequel like many others out there, except of course with a strong sense of self-awareness.
Normally i like the Jonah Hill movies, but this one is the worst film of him.
The direction is also well organised by the duo Lord and Miller, a pair of directors who met in Dartmouth College and proceeded to direct films such as 2009's "Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs", "21 Jump Street" and "The Lego Movie, all of which opened to critical acclaim.
VerdictQuite possibly the funniest film of the year so far; Lord and Miller's sequel is pure delight, with whip-smart comedy and a bone-achingly funny end credits sequence.
Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill have such good comedic chemistry which makes the movie work.It's not one of those sequels where they repeat exactly the same formula as the previous film- this is same but different with a few plot twists.
Channing Tatum AND Jonah Hill exhibited perfect chemistry on screen.AGAIN.I cant even begin to tell you how dynamic it was to watch the duo on screen together.The ending,the story-line and the directing were again absolutely perfect.The casting..even more so !
This is a cop comedy movie in which two cops, Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) assigned to go undercover and bust a drug ring at a high school.
The way of their case solving is what makes this movie awesome.Also there are some emotional scenes in this movie, like when Jenko decides to quit the police force and want to be a football player, then they both realizes that how important they are in each others life.Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill are great here, and the jokes are very well thought out and it is a movie that is entertaining from start to finish..
When 21 Jump Street came out two years ago, the world was surprised, because it was actually really funny and good!
And some people will say that the directors decided to play safe and just do the same thing, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, because the movie actually acknowledges it and that creates some funny moments.Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill are awesome.
I understand if people like the first one better, because this one kinda repeats it, but I think 22 Jump Street is better.Watch this movie and you'll have some laughs.
Fortunately repetition doesn't always mean bad thing, the film seems taking positive side from "21 Jump Street" and gets more upgrade in action sequences, the relationship between Jenko and Schmidt as partner and especially some smart jokes.
The rising director, Phil Lord-Christopher Miller who was known as the creator of "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatball", "The Lego Movie" and of course "21 Jump Street" seems comfortable to exploit some material from the first installment they've built also the way they inserted additional scene at end credit is brilliant, while Channing Tatum-Jonah Hill's chemistry keep audiences entertained at the entire scenes in it.
I do hope they make a third film, but if not, both 21 & 22 Jump Street will stand as some of the best action/police comedies ever made..
NO.I would really like to see 23 jump street or whatever but the ending scenes clarified that it needs great originality to come up with another part, but let's just hope !9/10 Definitely would watch again.
Contrary to all this they are the great ending to the franchise.The bromance between Hill and Tatum is even more prominent than in the first film and you can see that these guys are big friends in real life and are having a good time.
22 Jump Street, continues with the story of police officers, Schmidt(Jonah Hill) & Jenko(Channing Tatum).
It's starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, back from the first movie 21 Jump Street.
This film makes fun of comedies and action movies; and it does a great job at doing it.
At the same time it's the exact same film as 21 Jump Street but the fact that they're joking about that and in the know of it makes it more O-K to watch.
But I would say that specific middle area of the film is only like 15% of the movie, so if that's the amount of the movie that isn't that funny, it's doing pretty good.Overall, I would recommend going to see this if you want some laughs.
I will say it's super funny and if you want a good comedy movie, you should watch it..
In my opinion I believe that a good comedy movie is a great plot with a lot of laughs and doesn't over do it.
That serves '22 Jump Street' well, as it gives people what they want, while still managing to slip in enough new threads to keep things fresh.Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill have a fantastic chemistry together, complementing one another perfectly while creating one of the best bromances in recent screen history.
I know that a lot of work already goes into an animated movie, but there is one reason why How to Train Your Dragon has the simpler job then something like 21 Jump Street; the element of surprise.
If you saw the first movie, then you know that it ends with our heroes Morton Schmidt (played by Jonah Hill) and Greg Jenko (played by Channing Tatum) being told their going to college.
22 Jump Street is a passable comedy, but it makes me want to reexamine the first film..
And though the chemistry between Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum still worked, the satirical nature throughout was still pretty smart and well written (as the film pokes fun at big-budget Hollywood sequels, the college experience and split screens) and Ice Cube is given more to do (which is always good) there are a few glaring problems which caused this comedy to be far more flawed than it should have been: 1.
This was unexpected I thought it would of been terrible but actually it was really funny and I got to give credit to Jonah hill for this movie he was funny with Channing Tatum.
"22 Jump Street" is the sequel to the 2012 film "21 Jump Street" where Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum play undercover cops trying to investigate a drug dealer at a high school.
Now in "22 Jump Street" undercover cops Jenko (Tatum) and Schmidt (Hill) investigate another drug in college.
I will say that the spoof on the ending credits of making different Jump Street films was clever.
Ridiculously childish humour which I think Jonah Hill could do a lot better, having paid his dues through comedy movies, I am not entirely surprised to have thought of this as a good script/movie choice.
How anyone give this a high rating on here is beyond me.Don't get me wrong there were a few genuine laughs - but they were few (count on one hand) and far between.I think this movie rode on the back of the first and people wanted it to be so much like the first they saw right past all the obvious flaws and just how un-funny it was..
I had a really fun time watching 22 jump street and it makes me want to go back to watch the original.. |
tt4824308 | God's Not Dead 2 | This film is a sequel, taking place a few months after the first film.We are introduced to new characters, and revisit characters from the first film.A teenager named Brooke is trying to go about her day but is depressed because her brother died in an accident 6 months ago. Her parents seem to be over it and want her to be also.Grace Wesley (Melissa Joan Hart) is Brooke's history teacher. She is very upbeat and was even voted teacher of the year. She lives with her elderly father whom she takes care of.Rev. Dave returns and is having a bad day when Reverend Jude (also from the first film) shows up. He will be finishing his doctorate in the states and will be staying there.Amy returns as a journalist she was diagnosed with cancer at the end of the last film and became a Christian while interviewing the Newsboys. She just came from the doctor, and is now friends with the band, and tells them she is cancer free. Now that her illness is in remission, she wants to seek God out while just living her normal life.Martin Yip also returns as a Chinese college student. He became a Christian at the end of the first film and is now seeking answers to many of his questions.At the end of class Grace notices Brooke seems upset and asks her. Brooke tells her she is fine but later seeks her out to talk. They talk about her loss and she asks Grace how she stays so upbeat all the time. Graces answer is Jesus. Later the Salvation Army comes to pick up her brothers things and a volunteer gives Brooke a Bible she found. Her family is atheist which is why she is confused as to why her brother would have one. Its all marked up with notes and she begins reading it.In class Grace is talking about Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr's teachings about peaceful solutions. Brooke raises her hand and asks if it is also similar to Jesus' teachings. Grace agrees and recites some of Jesus's words from the Bible to show the similarities. One student takes out his cell phone and tells someone Grace has been preaching in class.She is called in for disciplinary action and put on paid administrative leave while they investigate. She gets a lawyer from the teachers union a very young lawyer named Tom Endler (Jesse Metcalfe). He is not a Christian but feels as though that will help their case. At the next meeting they offer her a plea just apologize to the Board for her wrongdoing and it will all be over. She refuses as she doesn't feel as though she did anything wrong she was just quoting someone, not preaching. The case now goes to court.The prosecutor, Peter Kane, goes to Brookes house to convince her parents to get in on this. It will help her get into college. They want to make this very public so Grace will be the example God is dead. They agree despite Brooke not wanting anything to do with it.Rev. Dave is called for Jury Duty and he is selected to be on the jury for this case. Brooke and her friends begin protesting as the case goes on. Her best friend Marlene is Amy's niece. She calls Amy to try and get her to report on the story.As the case goes on, Brooke goes to church and sees Martin. He, as a new Christian, has many questions, but she has more, and begins to ask him. She becomes a Christian in the church that night. Martin however is disowned by his father for his faith. He later decides to return to China to become a pastor. Meanwhile, Rev. Dave and other pastors receive a subpoena to submit their sermons from the last three months for review. He refuses.Many witnesses are called to testify. Graces principal expresses how Grace had invited her to church one time (to support their students) and her colleague says how she talks about God all the time on school property. Grace and Tom need a new strategy they decide to make the case that Jesus was a real historical figure, just like Gandhi and MLK. They call in historians as witnesses and make their case. Suddenly Reverend Dave becomes sick and they must replace him with an alternate. He has appendicitis. They replace him with a young woman who dresses differently colored hair and makeup, piercings, tattoos.Despite this, its looking positive when Brooke barges into the courtroom. She wants to testify to help her teacher. They agree thinking she will only help. However the conversation they had about her brother comes up. Kane makes the case that if they never had this conversation where Jesus was mentioned, she never would have asked the question in class or become a Christian. It seems as though all hope is lost and Tom tells Grace to prepare to lose.To show their solidarity, Brooke and all her friends show up at Graces door that night singing How Great Thou Art by candlelight.The next day Tom is no where to be found. Suddenly her barges into the courtroom and calls Grace to the stand without her knowing. He badgers her questioning her about her faith, causing her to cry and ask Why are you doing this? He goes on to ask the jury to just convict her already. He is found in contempt as he goes on and on, yelling, saying that this is the first step lets just silence all the Christians, and if this doesn't work, fine them, jail them, etc. He tells Grace later that he had to do it that way without her knowing so that the jury would see her true reaction.At the Newsboys concert they phone in Amy to pray for the outcome. Amazingly enough, Grace is cleared of all charges. The replacement juror is a Christian, showing not to judge a book by its cover. They all go outside and a huge crowd is there singing and celebrating with Grace that God is not dead.After the closing credits, Rev. Dave is arrested by the local police for not giving copies of his sermons for the last three months in response to the subpoena. He goes into the police car peacefully, and doesn't resist arrest. | christian film | train | imdb | null |
tt0995739 | Naam yi boon sik | An armoured truck carrying $100 million of cash is attacked by a criminal gang which calls themselves the "Ronin Gang" with explosives as it stops at a traffic junction in front of a jewellery shop. All the security guards were shot dead except one, while responding police officers suffered serious casaulties under the gunfire of the heavily armed gang members. The explosions also killed several civilians, including a lady in the shop. Six months later, the same gang reappears in Hong Kong, injuring a group of policemen, two critically, during a spot check. The dead woman in the jewellery shop was Crime Investigation Department detective Chan Chun's fiancee, while the injured policemen are led by Trainee Inspector Fong Yik-wei. Both officers vow revenge on the criminal gang.Wai King-ho is a rookie cop whose older brother, Wai King-tat, also a police officer, has been missing for an extended period. Deeply upset by police allegations that his brother has become a part of the criminal gang while infiltrating as an undercover, he was suspended from duty due to this connections with his now-wanted brother, and later confronted by both Chan and Fong who demand his brother's whereabouts. They form an alliance after Wai is rescued by Chan and Fong in a fight at a night club. Little Tiger is captured by Chan and is forced to lead the police to the gang's hideout. The gang appears however and kills Tiger after a chase, while injuring Chan and several of his colleagues.It turns out that the surviving security guard is Ho Wing-keung, the manager of the security company and who is in colludes with the gang to rob the armoured truck. He is tracked down by the gang to a psychiatric hospital, where he feigns a mental breakdown to escape detection by the gang. Chan, Fong and Wai arrive at the hospital, but fail to prevent his escape with the gang, who threaten his family to force him out. As the three pursue the gang, they run into an accident scene, where the gang shoots several police officers at the scene, hijacks a mini-bus with young children, and takes Wai as a hostage in the bus. Chan and Fong goes after the bus with Ho in another car.The gang members and the police officers engage in a lengthy confrontation, in which Wai discovers that his brother has his background exposed and killed by gang member Ronin Tien Yeng-yee. Ho is killed by Tien Yeng-seng to silence him, Wai is left handcuffed to the bus with the children and a timer bomb, while Chan and Fong are forced to collect the stolen cash from the robbery's mastermind at a funfair at Tamar while chained to another timer bomb. Wai manages to free himself and rescue all the children, and discovers that the bomb is fake, suggesting that Ronin has no intention to harm the children. Chan and Fong approaches a man with a luggage at the funfair as instructed, but the man turns out to be Chief Inspector Sam, who is leading an operation to nap the gang. The operation goes awry, the timer bomb is ignited safely in the nick of time, and Sam was pulled away by Chan and Fong to a secluded area, where they attempt to explain their situation to him. It is then revealed that Sam is also colluding with the mastermind, and is promptly killed, resulting in Chan and Fong becoming suspects for the murder.With the help of Fong's girlfriend Leung Hoi-lam from the Police Intelligence Department, Chan and Fong realise that the real mastermind is Senior Superintendent Cheung Man-yiu, who has orchestrated the armour truck robbery, double-crossed the gang resulting in the death of three of their members, and made off with the loot which he keeps hidden in a car in the Police Headquarters carpark. The remaining four members of the criminal gang arrive at the Headquarters in a police van masquerading as police officers to forcefully get the money back, just before the arrival of Chan, Fong and Wai. Senior Superintendent Mark Law Pui-keung begins to learn about the truth from data provided by Leung.An extended showdown at the Police Headquarters ensues, resulting in the deaths of three criminals, multiple policemen including a Special Duties Unit squad and Wai, who was beaten to death by Tien. An injured Tien was shot by Cheung, who nearly escapes arrest when he was later led to an ambulance by unsuspecting officers. He was subsequently shot dead by Chan and Fong when he tries to kill Law who was led to another ambulance. Both Chan and Fong return to their police duties, but as a detective and a beat cop respectively. They also help take care of Wai's grandmother. | violence | train | imdb | Maybe, but now it sure has its work cut out for it, with an amazingly satisfying, over the top, touching and down right honorable release from dear old Benny Chan.Mr. Chan's New Police Story was an admitted wink at good action things past, and Invisible Target bears the same hallmarks of quality only much better implemented.Ostensibly, it's a promising flick with a strong cast finally heralding the return of two of this reviewer's fave tough guys: enigmatic and oft crazed Shawn Yue and sulking, intellectual trouble maker Nicholas Tse.Of course a lot could still go wrong but it dawns on one that Invisible Target is an awesome movie right from the first scene when they proceed to blow things up with extreme prejudice smack in the middle of Hong Kong's Central business area, namely Queen's Road.Yes, Eye in the Sky had a heist taking place in the same locale, but that one was pale and forgettable.
Here we have a ballsy depiction of crooks on the loose that brings a tear to the most jaded of eyes as you sit there reminding yourself that this isn't merely how they used to make them, here they are, making them like that in this day and age.Oh yes, just like New Police Story, Invisible Target has kick ass villains, headed by martial artist Wu Jing, whose deranged but respectable streak was previously flexed in SPL.
The guy's simply spectacular as a bad guy, as is cool dude Andy On. Andy shone in New Police Story alongside Daniel Wu, and here he's even better, adding a sensible, human side to his nefarious character.Indeed, the antagonists here are all well done and conspicuously Putonghua speakers.
Regardless, they help make Invisible Target an excellent release you must not miss out on.As we behold, the baddies wreak havoc in jolly HK, setting in motion a storyline that has Inspector Tequila-inspired Shawn and Nicholas go after them with a vengeance, aided by Jaycee Chan who for once is truly impressive and adds much to the story.The three cops engage with the demented robbers across a variety of locations, using fists, feet, guns, cars and a variety of other tools.
This movie is a field day for makers of breakaway glass everywhere, as literally not a single sheet remains intact for more than a second.Invisible Target isn't a dour-faced, overly serious affair, it gets the balance between crime drama and lunatic fantasy just right as cops and robbers leap huge heights and take more punishment than your average WWII battleship could ever hope to withstand.With good supporting appearances from Sam Lee, Lam Suet and even Aaron Kwok, this is out and out a fun, thrilling and gripping film.
It's also atypically long for its genre or for Hong Kong releases in general, coming in at a hefty 130 minutes, which still isn't close to enough.In the end, good triumphs but there really isn't any evil here, as even the vilest of people seen in the story has an explanation for what they do and a tale to tell, which is an added bonus not to be overlooked.Plus, how can you say no to the first SDU sighting in a long, long, long time?
Yes, they return to battle Wu Jing and his crew, and of course promptly get their posteriors handed to them.Invisible Target is a frenzied, beautiful assemblage of classical themes (there's even a British cop in the briefing room like in the good old days), gorgeous stunts, mind-boggling explosions, intricate fight scenes and ever-shattering glass partitions.The macho-sensitive cast is a perfect fit and we're delighted to see them together and on screen again.
And in actuality, it seems that the constant target for everyone in the movie here, be they the bad guys or the good cops, are the plenty of glass lying around, getting smashed into smithereens by hurled projectiles, or more frequently, human bodies.
Invisible Target is still enjoyable, in that it brings to you the flavour of a typical Hong Kong action movie, with Benny Chan at the helm.
As we slowly get nauseated by the frequent mole versus mole plots that Hong Kong crime thrillers formula usually adopted (no thanks to the success of you know what), I thought Invisible Target was reminiscent about an old John Woo movie Hard Boiled, except that it's minus the guns, and instead you get plenty of fisticuffs.
A similarly long drawn out ending was a little too tedious to sit through, though it had its fair share of big bangs and segmented action sequences which tried hard to hold your attention.
Teahouses remain perfect locales for fights to break out (as in Hard Boiled), and here, it serves as a male bonding moment for our three heroic cops Chan Chun (Nicholas Tse), Fong Yik-wei (Shawn Yue) and Jaycee Chan's Wai King-ho.But in between the action, are the woefully painful monologues that the villain Tien Yeng- seng (Wu Jing) and his merry gang of 7 (which includes Andy On as brother Yeng-yee) dish out, trying to philosophize their actions as "I'm a villain so I kill", and about justice-injustice in the world.
If anything, Invisible Target is a Wu Jing movie, and one in which I'm not surprised if many actually throw their weight of support behind him.
It's a movie that the villain outshines the heroes easily.With three distinct cops, Invisible Target actually spends a considerable amount of time introducing them one by one.
And Jacycee's Wai is probably the wimpiest of the lot, being a by-the-books street cop who's investigating the disappearance of his brother (do a double take on that cameo!), who might have fallen into Tien's hands.
It's no doubt too that all of them are skilled in martial arts, and at any time would prefer to holster their weapons.Nicholas and Shawn are no newcomers to action, having starred together in recent movies like Dragon Tiger Gate, and thank goodness they've ditched their long locks in that movie for contemporary shorter crop here.
It didn't help that his character, the most naive and innocent of the lot, is in total contrast to the classic cop characters his father portrayed, and I surely think it was deliberate that he remains the least buff of the lot, with many goody-two-shoes scenes occasionally played out for comedy, or to reinforce that he's basically a cut above the rest of the good cops in terms of having a good natured character.
Characters like his are hard to come by in an age where grittier cinematic cops roam the street.So while big brothers Nicholas and Shawn get some fantastical set action pieces to show off their mettle, Jaycee got the shorter end of the stick by being quite a deadweight at times.
A typical flower vase role unfortunately, for a combined screen time of less than 5 minutes.Despite its reliance on hard hitting action dished out by the actors themselves, and in all purpose are as realistic as they look with the obvious wire work seen in the trailers drastically reduced, a few noticeable continuity errors marred the enjoyment of the movie at times.
Invisible Target had all the ingredients for a classic action movie, but the run time of more than 2 hours was due to an overindulgence with the slower moments which were fused with a couple of "I'm a cop" moments, and feel good messages rammed down your throat.And what do you know, Invisible Target still can't shake off the mole versus mole type plot line, unfortunately.
If it could have been a little more compact, and gotten to the point faster than it did, it would have been a tad more enjoyable, given the wealth of cameo/ supporting talent at its disposal, like Sam Lee (Dog Bite Dog) and the evergreen Lam Suet, rather than feel the need to tie up all the loose subplots it introduced, and exposing some technical loopholes in some action sequences..
But enough of that, onto the movie itself.Released around the same time (and probably competing for much of the same audience) as the fantastic Donnie Yen movie Flash Point, Invisible Target provides some legitimate competition, albeit in the same sort of tired fashion of OCB cops doing the wrong things for the right reasons.
The fight scenes are very well done (would you expect any less from Jackie Chan's son?), the movie seems for the most part well paced, and it's got a solid story.Now for the bad news.
Where Flash Point is quite a bit shorter, it leaves you wanting a little more whereas Invisible Target makes you feel like you got too much.
HK glass makers no doubt loved this movie...it's putting their kids through university.All in all I'd definitely recommend this movie to anyone who's a fan of contemporary kung fu...just make sure you've got a good chunk of time set aside to watch it..
It was reminiscent of the days of old for an Hong Kong action flick....crazy stunts with a second replay (like the old Jackie Chan flicks), plenty of excellent martial arts, explosions and gun play.
No messing about, no morals...just downright bad.With some of the so called action movie tosh that America churns out today, the west should start looking to Hong Kong and Korea to take a leaf out of their book to see how things are done (Flashpoint was also very good).Watch this and you won't be disappointed..
Plenty of Action As Criminals Take On The Hong Kong Police Force.
Director Benny Chan and staff do a mighty fine job with their cops and robbers story, Invisible Target.
The movie is almost all kinetic action, chases where the actors seem to jump 20 feet down from roof top to roof top, as the HK police try to stop the gang from getting the loot they are after.
There are dull sections,especially when Jaycee Chan is describing his bland philosophy of policing, but, hey, the Chinese censors won't allow movies to be released on the mainland unless they put the police in a good light.In Invisible Target, you don't see any police (aided by goons hired by real estate developers) clubbing farmers whose land was stolen, so a new factory can be built, enriching the local Communist Party boss who gets an ownership share in the factory.
But dealing with life's grim reality in one of the world's great bastions of robber baron capitalism would be too dull for most viewers, besides getting the HK filmmaker in big trouble with the People's Public Security Bureau if he or she ever set foot in mainland China.So Benny Chan and company go the crime drama route, with shootings, car chases and a great explosion sequence at the start that keys in a major plot element.
If there is one thing wrong with this movie, it is another scene at the start where Jaycee Chan's cop gives a ticket to a guy for parking illegally, a big mouth who is out with his young son.
When Jackie Chan's cop character in Police Story 2 stopped and ticketed a line of trucks (all Nissan trucks, then and now a Chan corporate sponsor), it showed Chan was no nonsense when it came to his job.
Jaycee's parking ticket scene is a crummy way to introduce his character, people nowadays don't like cops or anyone else who gives out parking tickets.Invisible Target is a good way to spend a little over two hours watching a very well made if improbable crime story..
There is a lot of action in the movie, in the likes of gunfights, martial arts and chase scenes.The story is about three very different police officers in the Hong Kong police who are chasing after a group of criminals on a wild chase taking them wide and far around Hong Kong.
The officers are heartbroken Detective Chan Chun (played by Nicholas Tse) who lost his fiancée in an explosion during a robbery of an armored truck, the arrogant Inspector Carson Fong Yik Wei (played by Shawn Yue) and fresh-out-of-the-academy officer Wai King Ho (played by Jaycee Chan).
Who is the mastermind behind the well-orchestrated robbery, and whom can they trust?"Invisible Target" is driven by a great story that comes off a very plausible and realistic, but it is also driven by the non-stop action, not to mention the vivid and detailed characters.The people cast for the various roles really did good jobs with their given roles, and that really helped the movie well along.Being a fan of Hong Kong cinema and having lived there myself, I found this movie very enjoyable, especially because it does show off a lot of aspects of Hong Kong, not just showing the glamour, fluorescent lights and the rich and famous.I will say that that music score for the movie wasn't all that impressive, and it was not standing out in anyway.
But towards the end, it ticks over and becomes rather irritating."Invisible Target" is highly recommendable for people who enjoy Asian movies and action movies in particular.
As this Hong Kong action movie opens a young woman is shopping for wedding rings but is killed in an explosion when robbers blast their way into an armoured car outside the shop; several police officers responding to the crime are also killed.
Six months later the gang is back in Hong Kong and her fiancé Chan Chun, a police officer, is determined to get his revenge.
it will all lead to a dramatic confrontation in the police station.If you want full on action you could do a lot worse than this film.
Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue and Jaycee Chan put in really impressive performances as Chan Chun, Carson Fong Yik-wai and Wai King Ho respectively and Wu Jing is a lot of fun as the gang's leader.
Director Benny Chang's fast paced crime thriller follows three Hong Kong cops relentlessly pursuing a ruthless gang of highly skilled crooks and murderers.More entertaining and absorbing than you might expect, it's not often that action films which are over two hours long can hold the audience's attention for the duration, but in this case the film rarely retreats from the explosive opening scene.
Perhaps it dwells for too long on the inherent good nature of the police officers, and there are no strong female characters worth noting.
However, if it's violence, explosions and a possibly interpretive subtext you're after, this is a film you are more than likely going to enjoy.Guns, martial arts, explosions, stunts and a pinch of philosophy: Invisible Target is a film almost as thought provoking as it is entertaining.
But in my opinion, it's uniquely valuable for being positive in information.Basically it's a story about 3 cops after a gang of robbers, consequently got involved deeper and deeper, and inevitably dig out dirty secrets of the police station.
However, the director didn't invest everything in promoting this one as the HK version of L.A. Confidential, mainly because the sense of social responsibility motivates the makers to create a story of growing up in good directions instead of dirty cop stories.The movie is very effective in editing the fighting sequences.
There's smashing glass a-plenty in this Hong Kong action flick that's almost one long running battle between a criminal gang and a trio of upstanding cops.
It's a film in which the plotting is completely tired and predictable, pitting the flawed-but-human good guys against an array of almost superhuman and sadistic crims in a variety of arresting chases, shoot-outs and martial arts sequences.Such stories are by-the-by when it comes to Chinese action cinema.
These films fall or stand on their action, and in that respect INVISIBLE TARGET doesn't disappoint.
There are some outstanding free-running sequences to tie it in with European fare like DISTRICT 13, excellent choreography in the various combat scenes and plenty of explosive destruction.
In many ways the action's a throwback to Hong Kong cinema of the 1980s, with an emphasis on the destruction of scenery and props and in particular glass.Director Benny Chan delivered the goods in 2004's NEW POLICE STORY and he does so again with the spectacular stuff on display here.
Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yue can do this type of stuff in their sleep: they play one dimensional characters but are great when it comes to fighting, and the same can be said of Wu Jing's ultra-villain.
Jackie Chan's lad Jaycee is given plenty of emoting which is slightly tiresome when contrasted with the otherwise great action.
INVISIBLE TARGET gets 1/10 for its storyline and 10/10 for the fights..
I'm generally a fan of Benny Chan's movie.
The story is about an outrageously nice cop played by Jaycee Chen who is now under surveillance because his brother who is also a cop is suspected of turning bad.The fight scenes are pretty brutal, and you'd wonder why a nice guy like Jaycee has to be involved in a situation like this, but he is.
Two other undercover police officers along with him battle for their lives against crooks who are trying to carve a living in society.Jaycee Chen has all the charm, and character of both his mother and his father.
He has looks that resembles them also, but the personality is all his own.This level of brutality is unusual for Benny Chan, but along with the story and its characters, the movie is highly experimental, but it comes together in the end with pretty outrageous fight scenes.Good movie even if you're not a fan of Benny Chan movies..
Good, but too long story of three different cops coming together to take on a band of really nasty robbers who like to blow things up.
What is not cliché is the action sequences which are truly amazing and are amped up versions of the sort of stuff that Jackie Chan used to do, which isn't surprising since director Benny Chan is a close relative (I've read his brother and I've read his son I'm not sure which). |
tt3576084 | Efes beyahasei enosh | Zohar (Dana Ivgi) and Daffi (Nelly Tagar) are returning to Shizafón, their middle-of-nowhere IDF base, where they work in Personnel along with Irena [why isnt this great actress credited?], two ditzes who spend their waking hours singing duets at annoying volume, and various other incompetents, all commanded by the Nurse Ratched-like, gung-ho, drank-the-IDF-Kool-Aid Rama.With Zohar's aid, Daffi, who's miserable as Chief Paper Shredder of the unit, has composed numerous appeals to headquarters to be transferred to the Kiryáh in Tel Aviv, where she fantasizes about lunching at Azrieli Towers...except that unbeknownst to Daffi, Zohar never sent any of the appeals: She doesn't want Daffi to get transferred, as it would leave her friendless at Shizafón.As the busload of soldiers enters the base, a new girl taps Daffi on the shoulder and asks her where Personnel is, upon which Daffi promptly decides that her appeals to be transferred have been answered and New Girl is her replacement; and Daffi immediately begins training New Girl to take over her job.That night, Eitan [uncredited] and his girlfriend are making out in his quarters, and there's a knock at the door. He quickly covers up his girlfriend [notes of Halfon Hill Doesn't Answer ] and gets up to answer. It's New Girl, who had a fling with Eitan the previous summer and has been obsessed with him ever since. She's not a soldier; she borrowed an IDF uniform and entered the base unauthorized [notes of Hair] in order to see him. When she lunges at him and declares her love, Girlfriend emerges from her hiding place, devastating New Girl, who runs out in tears and proceeds to use a box cutter to remove her tattoo of Eitan's name. The following morning, the girls awaken to a pool of blood and a dead New Girl, for which Rama blames the entire Personnel team.That night, Zohar's bed collapses and she refuses to sleep in the only vacant bed -- that which had been assigned to New Girl. Exasperated, Irena moves to the vacant bed and during the night is visited by New Girl's ghost, leaving Irena catatonic and non-functioning.Her imagined replacement dead, Daffi decides her only ticket to the Kiryah is by going off to officers' training, which she completes by the skin of her teeth, and gets assigned not to her longed-for spot at the Kiryah, but to replace Rama at Shizafón, on notification of which she bursts into tears.Meanwhile, lonely and at loose ends without Daffi, the girls have begun to taunt Zohar for being a virgin, so Zohar decides to rectify her situation. She seduces a reservist and arranges to meet him that night, telling Rama that Irena ought to see medical personnel, and offering to accompany Irena to the infirmary, to which Rama agrees.Zohar's date attempts to rape her, except just as he's getting ready to enter her, a shot is fired by Irena, who had followed them and grabbed his gun, which he'd tossed onto the ground in blatant contravention of strict orders. Aiming his gun at him, Irena orders him over to a waste can, where she orders him to ejaculate into it, "Just like what you were about to do to Zohar". He promptly vomits into the waste can, upon which Irena throws his clothes and gun at him and orders him to leave the base.As a shaky Zohar and a back-to-normal Irena are returning to their rooms, they encounter Rama, who asks them what they're doing outdoors. Zohar explains, and Irena claims she has no idea what Zohar's talking about. Rama dismisses Irena and punishes Zohar for being AWOL by assigning her the all-night task of cleaning and organizing the Personnel office, including "getting rid of all superfluous paper".The following morning, Rama comes to inspect the office to find it spotless...and every single sheet of paper, including all the soldiers' files, shredded and stuffed into her own office. Rama runs off screaming hysterically, realizing her army career is over.Meanwhile Daffi arrives to replace Rama and is now commander over her former fellow soldiers, who treat her like a joke and don't accept her authority over them. To show Daffi who's (not) boss, Zohar prints out multiple copies of all of the transfer appeals she composed for Daffi but never sent, and posts them all over the base, where they provide entertainment for all at Daffi's expense.Daffi decides to avenge the humiliating prank by deleting all the games to which Zohar is addicted and which have served as Zohar's lifeline to sanity. As she's doing so, the two get into a staple gun fight, and it's discovered by the base IT guy that instead of deleting the games, Daffi accidentally deleted all the soldiers' files, so now there're no records, either electronic or paper, as the paper files were shredded by Zohar.Daffi and Zohar make up while in detention [notes of Parent Trap] and are treated for their staple wounds in the infirmary, where Zohar spends the night with IT Guy, with whom we see her snuggling the following morning. The story ends with Zohar getting discharged and alighting from a bus in Tel Aviv, with Azrieli Towers on the horizon. | comedy, satire, entertaining | train | imdb | So when I saw the movie's summary about a group of women being pencil pushers in the Israeli army, I was expecting something far different.
My perception (which I got from movies) of the Israeli army is that every one who comes out of it seems to be real bad ass.
The movie tells three different stories about different types of women in the army.
A story of a woman who wants to be in command, a woman looking for a nice job in a nice place, and a woman who can't wait for her service to end.
Maybe it was a combination of the writing and the acting, or how the movie was edited to focus on the main characters and tell their stories.
Not knowing much about military service in Israel, I will assume the picture is displaying the emotion of what it's like to do it.
I was ready for some comedy and the Israeli movie "Zero Motivation" way exceed my expectation.
In addition to a great script, with a well- organized and tightly structured plot, it is filled with black comedy, feminism, friendship, and work ethics wrapped with a little nudity and horror, all done with a limited budget.
The movie was divided into three parts which are linked together by two central characters, Daffi (Nelly Tagar) and Zohar (Dana Ivgy), both young female soldiers working in the administration department of a military base in the middle of the dessert.
They are among a group of equally demotivated female colleagues supervised by ambitious but frustrated Captain Rama (Shani Klein), the only female officer in the management team.The film starts with good friends Daffi and Zohar reluctantly return to base after a short break.
Daffi, a clerical worker in charge of paper and the shredder, is tired of being stuck in the dessert and wants to be transferred to Tel Aviv.
Comedy erupts when a new comer Tehila (Yonit Tobi) enters the camp and Daffi treats her as her replacement until something tragic happens.
In the second part, Zohar is obsessed about losing her virginity but she exercises her independent thinking and receives help from a fellow colleague who asserts the female ego.
Then everything ends in a reasonable and interesting wrap up.I would not divulge too much plot as it will spoil the fun.
But I can guarantee that it is packed with jokes and laughter while making you think about the absurdity and blessing in life, while pondering on gender roles.
Perhaps the only short coming is the military setting which is hard for most international audience to identify with.
truly, the greatest israeli film of all time.
i will admit, i'm an Israeli guy and i think that the film industry in my country still has a lot to improve when it comes to quality, to meet with other countries standards.
in the last 5-6 years, there has been a huge improvement in film editing.
Israeli films used to be about drama and comedy, there almost hasn't been any thrillers or sci-fic but now we get the chance to enjoy new styles like "vals with bashir" which is an academy award winning animated Israeli film, or "bufor" - military thriller ,"big bad wolves" - an amazing high quality horror-drama, all are big budget films.the lately "zero motivation" ('efes be'yahasey enosh' - zero in social skills) is the most entertaining Israeli film i've seen so far.
it's about 3-4 IDF female soldiers who work in office of their military base.
the film is hilarious from beginning to end.
the film is a huge box office hit in Israel, on the top of the charts for more than 2 months already, and receiving a 90% positive reviews from critics and regular watchers.
to make a long story short, if you are looking for 2 hours of sweet drive, this is the one for you.
What with the delicate balance of comedy and drama, when the girls start duelling with staple guns you truly aren't sure whether somebody's going to get terribly hurt or not.
I've never been a fan of Dana Ivgy, sullen and sulky as she always looks, but the role here fits her; and it's a nice script, divided into ostensibly separate chapters but surprising the audience with links between them and not ending before even the shrewish valkyrie of a desk officer has been vouchsafed a moment of sympathy from the audience.
Zero Motivation follows in the tradition of Catch-22 (1970) and M*A*S*H (1970) by exploring the understated banalities, vulgarities and absurdities of military life.
Much like those films, we follow a congress of loosely connected characters, none of which approach their jobs with any kind of pride or relish.
Slight difference in this case, is the majority of the films denizens are Israeli women and not American men.The story is divided into three vignettes largely following the quiet and diminutive Zohar (Ivgy) and the rebellious Daffi (Tagar).
On their way back to base they meet Tehila (Tobi) who Zohar mistakes for a replacement thus making her dream of transferring to reality.
The second story involves Daffi's fruitless quest to loose her virginity which has disastrous consequences on her unit, including and especially Rama (Klein) her superior officer.
The last story sees the unintended results of Zohar's constant schemes to leave her isolated base for a cushy position in Tel Aviv.The rest of the ensemble includes Russian transplant Irena (Klingon) and twitty songbirds Livnat (Twito) and Liat (Gal), who fill out the rest of the unit like glitches in a computer program.Though if one were to point to a standout performance it would be Shani Klein as Rama.
Especially when faced with the one-woman agent of chaos that is Nelly Tagar's Daffi.Each vignette ends in much the same way; ironically and with a darkly humorous twist where no one is a modicum happier.
Even those who have never experienced Army life (or been a woman) will find a lot to love about Zero Motivation.
When the plot isn't grinding hopes and dreams into a fine powder, the girls occupy their time with various distractions, the most coveted of which is Daffi's Minesweeper game.
It's sad, bordering on pathetic yet when something as inconsequential as a computer game is the only trinket tethering your sanity, you'd want to hold on to it too.Darker than Stripes (1981), funnier than Catch-22 and way more concise than M*A*S*H, Zero Motivation is a fierce, fun little satire made all the more relevant coming from a country that has only known war since its inception.
Check out this Israeli import if for no other reason than you'll never look at a staple gun the same way again..
In Talya Lavie's film there is a scene where a male soldier tells female conscripts about his recruit training.
Because the officers were like the Nazis, he goes on.
But funny it is, when told by a Jew in Israeli Defense Forces uniform to other soldiers.
The humour in this film relies on unlikely and sudden contradictions such as this, which is pretty much the definition of a farce.
Some reviewers here have obviously not recognized this genre and have not expected the unexpected which this film delivers in plentiful doses.
If you ask a cinema lover about Jewish humour, she or he probably first thinks of Woody Allen telling a joke about God, and why not - but he's told so many of them we're surely ready for some new perspectives.
Joseph Cedar's Footnote was a refreshing dark comedy from Israel and Lavie's Zero Motivation is a fine showcase for classical Jewish humour in a fresh setting, the all-female personnel files office of a desert military base.
One reviewer thought that the soldier girls are bitching and lack solidarity - to me it seems they are mostly just being argumentative pretty much as a Jew is expected and brought up to be.
Another non-Israeli reviewer was shocked by the suicide of a young woman sneaking into the base dressed as a soldier.
The biggest fear in the Israeli base is surely an attack by a suicide bomber.
Then an outsider penetrates the base using a fake ID - and kills herself but for purely romantic reasons.
The film is based on Talya Lavie's own experiences in the IDF.
But the audience of the film is not.
Yet I enjoyed the whole thing and think I got most of the jokes right.
It is interesting that every army looks alike.
When I served in the Yugoslav Army back in 1987/88 I felt exactly the same as some of these girls.
I guess armies have to exist to protect the societies from the various enemies, and with Ukraine-Russia conflict it is obvious that well organized armies are good deterrent from the attack by the foreign enemy.Females can be good soldiers even better then males sometimes.
It also shows us insides of the Israeli Defense Force.
I hate to admit it but there is a reason for Israel to exist, because so many crazies want to hurt Jews.
I recommend that you watch this sweet film..
With certain exemptions, nearly every Israeli must do a mandatory two year minimum of training and the IDF is considered one of the best armies in the world.
In Zero Motivation writer-director Talya Lavie quickly dispels with any romantic or political notions of what serving in the army is like and focuses her attentions on a group of teens serving out their time in a podunk base in the middle of the desert where her heroines are assigned the most menial and redundant administrative tasks.The movie focuses on two best friends; Zohar (played by Israeli star Dava Ivgy) who has an attitude problem and a chip on her shoulder, and Daffi (Nelly Tagar) a childish brat who dreams of finishing out her duty in Tel Aviv where she can go shopping and play on the beach in her downtime.
Instead the two friends make life miserable for everyone around them, focusing their attentions on hitting record highs in minesweeper instead of completing the simple office busy work they're supposed to be doing.
The film is organized in a triptych so that each half hour is its own individual section and tells one specific story but the stories build and feed in to each other.
Also despite some dark story lines which include a suicide and an attempted rape the movie is absolutely hilarious.
This is a lovely coming-of-age movie about very young women coping with their impossibly dull military service in the Israeli army.
The film is very funny with a lot of attention to detail (the officers routinely meet in front of a map marked "Palestine").
The camera work is very low key, and very reminiscent of early Israeli movies in its style.
Its not a political movie but it does give a genuine insight into how many young Israeli women experience their military service.
As a footnote I will say that I saw it in Tel Aviv, the theatre was packed and as the movie started there was a siren and the whole audience had to shuffle into the exit tunnels.
A successful Public Relations attempt for Israel Army.
This film is a very successful attempt to polish the bloody image of Israel Army and nothing more.
You can laugh at some points if you can forget or don't know anything about the realities of Gaza Strip and Palestine.There is nothing interesting in terms of cinematography, script and acting.
We can summarize the movie's message as: "We are not murderers but young, nice girls and boys." If we believe in this movie military service in Israel Army is absolute fun.Audience reactions during the screening proves that this attempt is a successful one..
This film is demeaning to women and .
Zero Motivation (2014) is an Israeli film, written and directed by Talya Lavie.
The movie takes place at a remote army post of the Israeli Defense Force.
All of the main actors portray female conscripts, none of whom wants to be in the army, especially in the middle of the desert.Dana Ivgy plays Zohar and Nelly Tagar plays Daffi, best friends until they're not.
All of the women are unmotivated and act like prisoners rather than soldiers.
(Well, in a sense they are prisoners.) However, instead of banding together to fight against the repressive officers, they play computer games and fight with each other.Not only was this film demeaning to women, but it wasn't funny.
(Well, if you consider a woman committing suicide early in the film funny, then I guess it's funny.)This film won multiple awards at the Israeli Film Academy Awards, and it carries a very high IMDb rating of 7.7.
I thought it was insulting and demeaning to women, and I really disliked it.We saw this movie in the Dryden Theatre, as part of the fantastic Rochester International Film Festival.
This is one of the best Israeli films I've seen.
I loved the characters and the real portrayal of army life for women.
It was shown in a somewhat humorous manner, but is obviously a serious problem in the IDF as in other armies.
I'll just explain this for people who haven't lived in Israel: "The Kirya" is a base located in TLV, and considered an easy service compared with being placed in a remote location.
One of the girls wishes she could serve on this base.Just a note to the actors: please create a profile with your pictures, on this site..
clever plot, good acting = enjoyable IDF film.
The incomparable Dana Ivgy (Zohar) with her zinger lines and equally zing-y delivery, and the actress who portrays Irena (why is she not credited?) carry this zany, slightly dark IDF comedy.I subtracted one star from 10 because I found it unrealistic that a shot could be fired on an IDF base and no one comes running.Other than that, the plot is just complex enough with just enough loops to keep it moving, yet not confusing; and the characters were thoroughly differentiated, again simplifying things for the viewer.The story treats contemporary issues such as date rape, sadistic commanders, and the plight of women soldiers assigned to unchallenging administrative jobs.
I recommend Zero Motivation highly.*By the way, I'd translate *yachasei enosh* יחסי אנוש as "people skills", but "motivation" works, as this crowd lacks both!.
A Hollow, Empty Office Farce.
I will grant the possibility that there was something lost in translation: I'm not Israeli so maybe there are cultural aspects that don't translate.
In the first story of three related stories, a young woman commits suicide in a gruesome way.
There is attempted drama between some of the young women characters which is really no more than trivial friction among friends.
There is a shoot-out with staple guns that could have been funny but the context is that these characters are truly trying to harm the other.
I screened Zero Motivation at Tribeca this week.
The early signs were positive: - its nominated for best narrative feature; - the director's prior film - a short - won # awards; - Talya Lavie worked on the script at the Sundance Film Institute.
Sadly, all those 1st impressions came crashing to the ground: - the acting performances are nothing special; - the script is at time awkward and full of gender stereotypes and clichés; - the audience reaction was all over the map.
Zohar serves her two years working in a boring back office function at an IDF base.
Daffi aspires to live in Tel Aviv, & somehow manages to complete officer training to fulfill her wish.
In a Q&A following the screening, a member of the cast suggested the plot was a "realistic portrayal of life in the IDF" and the plot of this dark comedy represented a microcosm of Israeli society.
Zero Motivation review.
Zero Motivation is an Israeli film about a group of women who are working in the Israel Defense Forces.
Zohar and Daffi are best friends who traveled together daily to work at the Human Resources Office at a remote dessert base in Israel.
One day when they arrive at the base Daffi finds her replacement named Tehila.
Daffy's big dream is to work in Tel-Aviv, so she tried to get a replacement and reassignment, so she could work in Tel-Aviv.
Rama is the supervisor and head of all the girls working in the defense forces.
Daffi and the rest of the base soon found out that Tehila was not her replacement.
Tehila snuck onto the base to see a boy that she fell in love with.
This boy serving in the forces rejects Tehila, and she then commits suicide.
Daffi decided to apply for a position to be an officer because she saw this as the only way to achieve her goal to work in Tel-Aviv.
She got transferred to another base, and left her friend Zohar in bad terms.
Daffi then graduates from officer training, and instead of being placed in Tel-Aviv, ironically she receives Rama's old position which was extremely ironic.
Daffi struggles to discipline the girls that she used to be friends with while working in the office.
Zohar and Daffy get involved in a violent fight.
In the end Zohar takes the blame, so that Daffi can experience her dream by working in Tel-Aviv.
I would recommend this film to someone who is not looking for a lot of action, and wishes to learn about women's role in the Israeli troops.
I have watched many films throughout this school year, and Zero Motivation has not been very intriguing.
This film was very boring and did not have any climax which does not allow the viewers to question what will happen next.
Although I did not enjoy watching this film, I thought it was very interesting to see footage of all the soldiers serving for the Israel Defense Forces. |
tt0074285 | Carrie | The film begins in the locker-room fill of teenage girls, including Carrie White (Sissy Spacek). Carrie gets her first period, and after becoming distressed, cries out for help. Instead of helping, the other girls ridicule and harass her, throwing out tampons, sanitary towels and toilet paper to her. Teacher Miss Collins (Betty Buckley) rushes in to stop the commotion. White, who appears to be bottling extreme rage, snaps a light bulb. After questioning Carrie, Miss Collins realizes that Carrie is unaware of the concept of menstruation. Because of this, Miss Collins asks the school principal to excuse Carrie from gym class for a week because of the trauma. Upon her way home, Carrie uses her recently discovered telekinesis to stop a boy from teasing her. While at home, Carrie is tormented by her delusional mother (Piper Laurie), who locks Carrie in a closet and forces her to pray--she believes that Carrie received her period due to sinning.Miss Collins, still livid about the incident, berates the other girls and forces them through a detention, deliberately physically exhausting them. The leader of the clique, Chris Hargensen (Nancy Allen), refuses to participate, and as punishment, is banned from the upcoming prom. Furious, she blames Carrie for her misfortune. Meanwhile, another one of the girls, Sue Snell (Amy Irving), feels guilty about her part in teasing Carrie, so she asks her boyfriend, Tommy Ross (William Katt), to take Carrie to the prom. Tommy begrudgingly agrees. After Tommy asks her to the prom, Carrie refuses, thinking that yet another trick is being played on her. After a comforting pep talk with Miss Collins, and after Tommy's further insistence, Carrie finally agrees to go to the prom with Tommy.While everyone else is getting ready for the prom, Chris schemes with her boyfriend Billy Nolan (John Travolta) and best friend Norma (P.J. Soles) to get revenge on Carrie. They go to a farm and slaughter some pigs, drain their blood into a bucket, and place the bucket on one of the rafters in the school gym. Carrie asks her mother's permission to go to the prom. Her mother becomes unhinged at the suggestion, commenting that Tommy is only after her for sex and that this will lead her down a road to perpetual sin. This leads to a violent argument between Carrie and her mother; who uses her telekinesis to slam windows and doors in her home. After another fight between Carrie and her mother the night of the prom, Carrie uses her powers to push her mother into a bed and tells her that she must stop worrying.Carrie and Tommy arrive at the prom, and Carrie begins to feel accepted by Tommy's peers. Miss Collins relates to Carrie the story of her own prom, telling her she should cherish the memory forever. Carrie and Tommy dance together; Tommy has since fallen for Carrie and kisses her.As per Chris' instructions, Norma and some of Billy's friends fix the ballots so that Carrie and Tommy are elected prom king and queen. They make their way to the stage, and Carrie finally feels what its like to be accepted.Meanwhile, Sue sneaks into the prom and sees Chris and Billy under the stage. She realizes their plan: Chris is going to yank a cord and dump the pig's blood all over Carrie as she is declared prom queen. Sue rushes toward the stage frantically, but is intercepted by Miss Collins, who thinks that Sue is out to make trouble for Carrie after seeing that Carrie and Tommy are together. Miss Collins throws her out of the gym, thinking that she was to spoil Carrie's momentum. At that exact moment, Chris yanks the cord, drenching Carrie in pig's blood.The students gasp and look on in horror. Tommy is furious, but the bucket falls and knocks him unconscious. Carrie snaps and imagines that all of the students and faculty are actually laughing at her, which her mother had warned her would happen. Carrie uses her telekinesis to destroy the gym and kill her peers and teachers, including Miss Collins. As Carrie walks home, a firetruck is seen passing her. Chris and Billy, who safely witnessed Carrie cause the death of the entire student body, attempt to run Carrie over with Billy's car. Carrie uses her telekinesis to destroy the car.When Carrie returns home, she draws a bath. After she cleaned herself, her mother appears, and tells her she was the result of a strange marital rape. Then, convinced that her daughter is an evil witch, she takes out a chopping knife and stabs Carrie in the back. Carrie falls down the stairs and stumbles away from her mother. When her mother corners her in the kitchen, Carrie uses her power to crucify her mother with kitchen knives & tools. After the death, Carrie becomes wrought with guilt, and using the lit candles, sets her house ablaze. The home eventually collapses and Carrie dies amongst the debris.Some time later, Sue, having survived the prom night catastrophe, is suffering from depression over the death of her peers. She experiences a nightmare in which she visits the location of Carrie's house. As she reaches down to put flowers on the burnt lot, Carrie's blood-stained hand reaches up from the rubble and grabs her. Sue then wakes up screaming in the arms of her mother. | comedy, fantasy, cruelty, suspenseful, gothic, murder, paranormal, dark, cult, violence, horror, atmospheric, insanity, romantic, tragedy, revenge, sadist, prank | train | imdb | It is a classic offbeat horror-melodrama merging harmoniously the family Gothic extravaganza, supernatural power, and a woman's movie of a peculiar kind
It remains the cinema's best adaptation of a Stephen King novel
The film initiated De Palma's inclination for surprise diverts between playful imagination and reality, as in the opening, which swifts from a soft-core porn fantasia of girls taking a shower in the locker room to the fact of Carrie's menstruation for the first timethe first sign of "otherness" that will reserve her as an horrifying monster from her small-minded colleagues
All the oppression that Carrie undergoes both at home (with a bible beating maniacal mother played by scary Piper Laurie who develops twisted bizarre ideas) and at school to suppress tension which takes the shape of super telekinetic power, the ability to move objects with the strength of her mind
We observe with ambivalence as Carrie's insatiable revenge jumps the line into uncontrolled mass murders ever filmed
Sissy Spacek is amazing as the mocked, helpless girl pushed over the edge
Her face and body twist like a living special effect to unleash her pent up rage, as well as her character's alarming progress from painfully shy high-school teenager to Angel of Vengeance.
Perhaps one of the only genuinely good Stephen King adaptations, Carrie' follows the tragic tale of Carrie White (Sissy Spacek), a young girl who is continually made to suffer at the hands of her bullying classmates and not helped by her overbearing, religious mother Margaret (Piper Laurie).
Carrie is played by Sissy Spacek in a performance of such power and strength that she received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress (the first actress ever to be nominated for a horror film; the second would be Sigourney Weaver for "Aliens")She manages to hit all the right notes.
Her performance is a real knockout and also garned an Oscar nomination (she should have won, but typical Academy genius set in and gave the prize to Beatrice Straight who was in "Network" for a whopping 10 minutes and really didn't do much.)Also, as a side note, this film also is a start for some future DePalma regulars such as John Travolta (his first major studio film) and Nancy Allen (her first major role)What I really liked about "Carrie" is the absolutely perfect ending.
Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie deservedly have been singled out for praise, but DePalma even managed to get the right performance out of decidedly untalented performers like Nancy Allen, William Katt (who is immeasurably aided by the kind of meticulous lighting that would have made Joan Crawford envious), and P.J. Soles.Buckley deserves special mention, because she does amazing things with a completely underwritten role.
Spacek's performance in the lead is flawless; Piper Laurie exceptional as her deranged mother (it was her comeback role, Oscar-nominated, yet it nearly typed her as a horror-movie actress); Nancy Allen, P.J. Soles, and William Katt are excellent as Carrie's classmates; Amy Irving is intriguing as schoolmate Sue who just wants to do the right thing (Pauline Kael of The New Yorker complained that Sue's role in the disaster wasn't made clear, but I disagree.
Now this Stephen King's horror classic has been confirmed for a remake which stars Chloë Grace Moretz and my diva Julianne Moore (highly likely to take on the role of the religion- maniac mother), both reinterpret two Oscar-nominated performances from Spacek and Laurie, with the juicy fodder, a belated Oscar finally seems to be approaching for my goddess (finger crossed).
The mother-daughter face-off and subsequent house caving into debris scenes may be attributed to produce a more crowd-please impression (despite of its low-budget SFX and the well-expected surprise at the coda), the film could hardly be pigeonholed as a horrorfest, as Carrie is ubiquitous in every school, every class, a bully-defying story has much more drama empathy even after 35 years after its debut, which could nicely explain the ground for a remake now.
Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) is a misunderstood young high schooler with a freakishly obsessive Catholic mother (an amazing performance by Piper Laurie) who borders on Neo-Nazi.
But when Chris and her dimwitted boyfriend Billy (John Travolta's second role) devise a horrible and humiliating prank, they don't take into account what has manifested inside of Carrie after all those years of torment, and how it will effect them in the films horrifying and very memorable climax.Brian De Palma's famous horror film, adapted from Stephen King's chilling novel, is often noted as the ultimate in teenage revenge films.
Meanwhile, the rest of the cast does a wonderful job, and keeps you on your feet with Betty Buckly, Nancy Allen, who does a wonderful job portraying your classic, high-school bully, Amy Irving, as the kind-hearted, but misguided, Sue Snell, William Katt, as Tommy, Sues kind-hearted boyfriend, Jon Travolter, as Billy, and PJ Soles, who always shines no matter what role she is playing.Watch Carrie today!.
I, being a film buff, I could see Brian De Palma took pages from film making textbooks by emulating German Expressionist movies for lighting to create horror and Citizen Kane and 2001: A Sace Oddysey for using music as an alternative to tell the story.The cast in the movie is excellent and they all have great played their roles really well.
Carrie (1976) is one of the classic horror films of our time, written by Stephen King and brought to film by Brian De Palma.The story is about a plain young girl called Carrie who's old fashioned and cant fit in no matter how hard she tries, she has no friends and constantly gets bullied and harassed by all the other girls at her school.But what nobody knows is that Carrie is a very special girl with powers that can cause devastating force!!!
William Katt and Nancy Allen are also strong in the supporting roles as the school hunk and most popular girl (bitch).Carrie also scores highly for it's excellent ending, one of the best in horror movie history!!
A young, abused and timid 17-year-old girl (Sissy Spacek) discovers she has telekinesis, and gets pushed to the limit on the night of her school's prom by a humiliating prank.There seems to be little reason to review this film.
This once-shy teen decides to use her powers for revenge.Directed by Brain DePalma (Blow Out, Dressed to Kill, The Untouchables) made an scary, often creepy horror movie with terrific performances by Oscar-Nominated performances by Spacek and Laurie.
Today the film is recognized as a horror classic while Mr. King hasn't done too bad for himself either.The title character is a high-school outcast with a religious fanatic for a mother.
Upon watching Carrie for the very first time in today's modern age one wishes that it were possible to go back and witness the film in a packed cinema screening upon release for it would have been a grand and previously unseen experience, for Carrie is a film that feels ahead of it's time and stands the test of age to still be shocking and frightfully spot on in it's depiction of teenage isolation and discovery of oneself.Carrie needs no real introduction as many know the story of bullied social outcast Carrie White, played so well by the then 26 year old Sissy Spacek.
The film also features early performances from John Travolta as idiotic teen Billy Nolan and Nancy Allen as evil school girl Chris.Much of Carrie's success must be related back to director Brian De Palma who directs the film with that voyeuristic style that made him famous in films such as Dressed to Kill and Body Double.
The film tells the tragic tale of Carrie White (played marvelously by Sissy Spacek) a mousy abused girl who suffers endless torment at the hands of her classmates and fanatically religious mother (Piper Laurie who's also incredible).
Little does everyone know Carrie's dark secret: She is Telekinetic and once the prank is pulled, a holocaust of destruction is released like non ever seen before.This Classic from the 70's is flawless in every way; the acting is all top notch the effects are remarkable and the ending is haunting and tragic at the same time.
It all boils down to a blood-drenched, special effects-laden climax at the school prom.There are others who care for Carrie: a fellow classmate named Sue (Amy Irving), her friend Tommy Ross (golden boy William Katt), and a sympathetic gym teacher (Betty Buckley).
That it's fun, and funny, at different times also puts it a notch above other genre material (certainly above other King adaptations about the mawkish loner with special powers).Sissy Spacek is in a career-making performance as Carrie, the awkward girl that everybody in school (at least all of the juvenile teen girls in gym class) teases to no end, who's own paralyzed way of being among people works against her.
After an accident in the girl's shower, to which taunting reaches a high peak, all of the girls (including the likes of PJ Soles, Amy Irving, and the very sexy b*tch Chris played by Nancy Allen) get detention under the only one who really cares for Carrie (Betty Buckley), and so the girls plot revenge involving the senior prom and a bucket of pig's blood.
Excellent big screen version of author Stephen King's first novel is not only a suspenseful teen drama, but a touching character study too.Social misfit spends her days mocked by her classmates and harassed by her fanatically religious mother, then she discovers that she has the power of telekinesis...Director Brian De Palma made a number of top-notch suspense thrillers during the 70's and Carrie is surely one of his finest works.
Supporting cast Nancy Allen, John Travolta, and Betty Buckley also turn in good performances.Carrie is a classic that should be appreciated by all film lovers, not just those that enjoy the horror genre.
De Palma utilises the incoming end of school prom night dance as a looming deadline, in turn transforming everything into a shrill, and at times agonised, low level drama which happens to mutate into domains of the uncanny when great levels of frustration and anger boil up.The film is essentially one big build up to the prank-of-all-pranks that the bullies, lead by the aforementioned Sue and her partner Billy, who himself isn't shy of getting stuck into a hair-raising situation when we observe him out drinking and driving at once with the verbal confirmation that police cars are buzzing around, aim to play on Carrie at the end of school dance.
Poetically filmed and sharply drawn as a character study, it introduced moviegoers everywhere to one of the finest actresses of our era (Sissy Spacek), gave a career-defining role to a fine actress (Piper Laurie) whose talent and name would probably be forgotten by now were it not for this film, was the first true exhibition of John Travolta's enormous screen charisma and jump-started the careers of an impressive line-up of unknown actors (Betty Buckley, P.J. Soles, William Katt, Nancy Allen and Amy Irving).
Piper Laurie is absolutely sensational in this role--deliberately over-the-top in a chilling yet darkly funny performance which should have won an Oscar for supporting actress but lost out to Beatrice Straight's two-scene cameo crying and screaming jag in "Network." (Of course, as wicked as this performance is, it's amazing the staid Academy saw fit to nominate it in the first place.) After Miss Collins, the well-meaning gym teacher (future Broadway diva Betty Buckley), berates the class for torturing poor Carrie, and humiliates evil Chris Hargensen (Nancy Allen, gloriously naked in the memorable opening locker room sequence) in the process, she unwittingly sets in motion the tragic turn of events: Chris and boyfriend Billy (Travolta) plot revenge on Carrie, while Sue Snell (Amy Irving), feeling guilty for her part in the incident, talks her boyfriend Tommy (Katt) into taking Carrie to the prom, hoping she'll finally come out of her shell and fit in.
And just to illustrate how cheap and sleazy it could have been in lesser hands, simply screen the awful sequel "The Rage--Carrie 2" and watch how Sue Snell's character is despicably trashed for a cheap thrill, or try to sit through the botched TV-movie remake which is as bad as this one is great and you'll see the difference is all in Brian DePalma--a director who has since had a spotty career but for one glorious moment put it all together to create a masterpiece.
I respect her work and her as an actress.Sissy Spacek is the only thing that keeps "Carrie" from being another run-of-the-mill horror film with a few good ideas and an empathetic title character.
Carrie is one of the greatest Horror Films ever made,an Excellent,Scary and suspenseful Horror classic that is filled with amazing direction,great performances from Sissy Spacek and the rest of the cast,a fantastic script and a beautiful,haunting film score.
All those elements make Carrie a classic and Brian De Palma and Stephen King at their best.Based on Stephen King's novel of the same name,Carrie tells the story of Carrie White(Sissy Spacek),a quiet and shy 17-year-old girl who is bullied and tormented by her High School classmates and lives with her Mother Margaret White(Piper Laurie),a religious fanatic.
Carrie is an brilliant film from beginning to end and was an amazing breakthrough film for director Brian De Palma and Author Stephen King because it was the first big box office hit for De Palma and the first Stephen King adaptation to the big screen while also being one of the all time great Horror movie classics and one of the best Stephen King adaptations.
Piper Laurie is brilliant in her Oscar nominated role as Carrie's Mother Margaret White,with Laurie being scary,terrifying and having great scenes with Spacek.
Based on Stephen King's first novel, this film tells the story of a shy teenage girl named Carrie White(Sissy Spacek in an unforgettable performance) who is mocked and humiliated by her cruel schoolmates, though one of them takes pity on her, and has her popular boyfriend(William Katt) ask Carrie to the prom, which she accepts, but tragically Carrie's mother(Piper Laurie, quite good) is a psychopathic religious zealot who keeps Carrie locked in the closet as punishment for her "sins", but Carrie defies her, though two evil expelled classmates(played by Nancy Allen & John Travolta) plot a cruel prank on her at the prom, which pushes Carrie over the edge, and makes her use her latent telekinetic powers in merciless revenge...Fine performances and script compensate for some exploitive and obvious scare tactics in this memorable film, which elicits such sympathy for this unjustly put-upon girl that her rage at the end is understandable, though of course the poor girl is doomed....
Brian De Palma brings Stephen King's first novel to life as part coming-of-age drama, part obnoxious high school movie and part horror film in a way that's at times messy, but visually lasting and highly memorable.Unexpectedly, the film's title sequence takes place in a girls locker room where we get a barrage of full-frontal nudity followed by star Sissy Spacek erotically soaping herself in the shower and discovering that she's bleeding for the first time.
And her mother simply acts like a zealot, so by the time we finally start to understand her, it's too late.It's a stretch to call "Carrie" a horror film; most of it is an exercise in effective foreshadow because we know all these circumstances will lead to something bad, but not until the end does it get a bit gruesome (though not nearly gruesome enough).
Piper Laurie is superb in an Oscar-nominated role (rare for a horror movie at the time) as Carrie's tormenting mother Margaret, who believes that her innocent girl is proof of her sinfulness.
Based on Stephen King's novel, "Carrie" is a classic horror film directed by Brian DePalma and one of the greatest movies from the 1970's that still echoes in our minds and in the popular culture.
And while I have never read the book itself, I can still say that this is one of the best films associated with both King and De Palma.Carrie is the story of a shy girl who is bullied in high school.
Over the past few decades, almost everything ever written by Stephen King has been filmed for either TV or the silver screen; however, very few of these adaptations have come close to matching the extremely high standard set by Carrie, the first King novel to receive the movie treatment.Directed by Brian De Palma, this superb supernatural horror stars Sissy Spacek as Carrie White, a shy and awkward teenage girl who is mercilessly bullied at high-school and further tormented at home by her overbearing, religious zealot mother (Piper Laurie).
To make matters worse, at the same time as Carrie experiences her first period (during the film's unforgettable opening shower sequence), she also discovers that she has developed telekinetic abilities that get more powerful but less controllable as she becomes increasingly distressed.When a group of spiteful classmates (led by the gorgeous Nancy Allen and a young John Travolta) implement a nasty plan to humiliate Carrie during prom night, the poor girl finally snaps and unleashes her full psychic wrath on the unsuspecting revellers.Determined to impress with his first major Hollywood movie, director De Palma pulls out all the stops to bring Lawrence D.
It was THE long-shot at the big time for a cast of virtual unknowns: Sissy Spacek as the tortured title character; Piper Laurie, leaving semi-retirement to play religious fanatic Margaret White, Carrie's mother; Nancy Allen (a future Mrs. de Palma) and P.J. Soles as Chris and Norma respectively; Broadway and film star Betty Buckley playing the sympathetic gym teacher Miss Collins; Amy Irving (one of the future Mrs. Steven Spielbergs) as Sue Snell, the only girl on Carrie's side; William Katt (THE GREATEST American HERO) as Tommy Ross, Sue's BMOC boyfriend and the key to Carrie's downfall; and in a cameo that would send his career skyrocketing, John Travolta as Chris Hargensen's lunk-headed boyfriend, Billy Nolen.
CARRIE (1976) ***1/2 Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, William Katt, Betty Buckley, John Travolta, Nancy Allen. |
tt3006802 | Outlander | Flashback: Claire and Frank are happily strolling down a London street. Suddenly, Frank stops in the middle of the road and, with a smile, asks Claire if she is ready. Puzzled, Claire wonders what she should be ready for, and turns as Frank nods toward the City of Westminsters Registry Office, where a newly married couple are standing on the steps posing for newlywed photos. Claire is astonished. "Now? What about your parents? Theyre waiting at the restaurant!" Frank persuades her with little trouble, and finally asks "Will you marry me?" "Of course," says Claire, kissing him . . ."You may kiss your bride . . ." intones a Scottish voice, and suddenly, Claire is tentatively kissing Jamie at the end of a candlelit wedding ceremony.Later, she is sitting in their room in the inn, with most of her wedding finery discarded, and musing over how different this wedding was from her wedding to Frank and how at some point, one chooses to move forward with their life. Jamie enters the room, and as the door opens, the sounds of merriment can be heard below. Claire notes that the wedding party is still going strong, and Jamie hesitantly observes that "they will keep it up, until we make it . . . official." Claire looks down, and mutters that its a wonder that they arent watching. "Only Rupert and Angus," observes Jamie, and at Claires startled glance, he tells her that it was "just a wee joke." "You're a regular Bob Hope," she sighs."Was he a funny man?" Jamie looks about, at a loss, and Claire suddenly suggests a drink. Jamie offers a gallant toast: "To a lady of grace, a woman of strength, and a bride of astonishing beauty -- my wife, Claire Fraser." Jamie sips his drink, but Claire downs her in a single gulp, earning a raised eyebrow and a refill. She tosses back the second glass, ignoring Jamies raised glass, and obligingly, he pours yet another glass. After her third glass, he realizes that she is drinking from nervousness, and reassures her that he has no intention of forcing himself on her. She has questions, and first and foremost, she wants to know why he agreed to marry her. "I didnt have much of a choice . . . but you!" "I dinna have much of a choice, either," admits Jamie.Flashback to the day before: In the stable, Dougal and Ned are explaining to Jamie and Murtagh that Claire needs to be married to a Scottish husband to become a Scottish citizen and to therefore avoid being harshly questioned by Black Jack Randall. Ned is very clear the marriage must be consummated, either with actual witnesses or at least witnesses in the same building. Jamie is taken aback, and demands to know if Claire is aware of the particulars. Dougal shrugs off the question, indicating that Claire doesnt have a choice. Murtagh looks questioningly at Dougal and observes that he didn't think that Dougal believed in rape. "Not rape . . . persuasion," purrs Dougal, but then Dougal warns Jamie that the marriage must be consummated, with no secret agreements where they say they have, but they havent. Dougal goes on to say that it shouldnt be difficult, and that with Claire's figure, he wouldnt mind having sex with her himself. Jamie angrily tells Dougal that if Claire is to become his wife, then he would thank Dougal to stop talking about her like she was a common whore. Dougal reminds him that Claire has already bravely taken a few blows from Randall, but asks him to consider what Randall may do to her if he gets his hands on her again. Jamie turns away, considering . . . Claire smiles at Jamie. "So, you married me to keep me safe?" she asks him, and he agrees, with a small smile. Then seriously, he tells her that she has his name, his clan, his family and, if necessary, the protection of his body, as well. Claire comes to sit next to him on the bed, gazing at him consideringly, and holding his hand gently. Jamie gently leans in for a kiss, but nervously, Claire forestalls him, stammering, "Tell me about your family!" He stops and chuckles. "How many generations back?" he asks wryly. Relaxing, Jamie begins to tell her about his mother and father, and how they eloped and were married. They spend the next several hours drinking, talking and getting to know each other for the first time. Jamie charms her with his storytelling. Suddenly, the door bursts open, and Angus and Rupert are in the doorway, sent by Dougal to see if they have consummated their marriage, yet. Angus declares that they havent, "they still have their clothes on!" he exclaims as Jamie shoos them out the door. Claire giggles nervously at Jamie's return, and there is a moment of silence as they both consider the next step. Taking a deep breath, Claire suggests that it is getting late, and perhaps they should go to bed. "To bed . . . or to sleep?" inquires Jamie carefully. "Wellll . . . ." Claire says consideringly, smiling at Jamie. Jamie offers to help her take her corsets off, and begins to unlace her. Quickly, the many layers are discarded, leaving Claire in her shift as Jamie gently caresses her. "My turn," she whispers, reaching for his kilt. They begin to kiss passionately, and she draws back, surprised. "Where did you learn to kiss like that?" she asks. "I said I was a virgin, not a monk," he tells her. "If I need guidance, Ill ask . . ." He turns her around so that her back is to him and begins to fondle her. She turns to face him, and they collapse onto the bed, not bothering to finish undressing. In his eagerness, he does not realize that he is crushing her, and she whispers, urging him to a slightly different position. In a moment, its over, leaving them both gasping for breath. As they lay back, catching their breath, they exchange tentative smiles, and Claire asks him, curiously, if it was like he thought it would be. "Almost," he admits."I thought . . . " he breaks off, embarrassed, and Claire encourages him to tell her what he had imagined, promising not to laugh. He tells her that he didnt realize it was done face-to-face. "I thought it was done the back way . . . like horses!" Claire cannot contain her giggles, and even Jamie starts to laugh. He asks her if she liked it. She lowers her eyes, not answering immediately. A disappointed look crosses Jamies face, and he murmurs "Murtagh was right about that, then." Confused, Claire asks, "Murtagh?" Jamie tells her that Murtagh told him "that women generally do not care for it. He . . . and Rupert. And Ned. They had a lot of advice on the subject last night," he shrugs, and glumly sits on the edge of the bed. After a moment, Claire sits up and tells him, softly, "I did like it, Jamie."Crossing the room, she is suddenly struck by the fact that she is both a bigamist and an adulteress. Shaking the thought from her head, she declares she is going down to fetch some food. Jamie tries to stop her, but she steps through the door in only her shift, forgetting the crowd downstairs. As she appears at the top of the stairs, she is taken aback by the raucous cheers and greetings of the McKenzie clansmen, who have been celebrating Jamies marriage with enthusiasm. Suddenly realizing her state of undress, she quickly retreats back to the room, leaving Jamie to good-naturedly bear the brunt of the clansmens lewd comments as he gathers some food and wine to take back to the room.As Jamie starts back upstairs, he hears Dougal voice, softly, under the laughter of the other men: "Ye didnt thank me," reminding Jamie that he was the one that has provided Jamie with a bride. Jamie considers him for a moment and then tells him, "Thank you -- truly." Dougal warns him that he shouldnt be too eager to run back to his bride, because, as Jamie tells Claire later, it gives her too much power over him. As Claire and Jamie eat together, he tells her what Dougal has said, and she asks him what his response was. "I told him I was completely under your power and happy to be there," he replies. He brings more whiskey, and as he tops up her glass, he reaches out with his other hand to gently touch her hair. Involuntarily, she flinches and he moves away, disappointed. She catches herself and smiles at him, and he returns, leaning on the back of her char and contemplating her hair. "Mo nighean donn," he murmurs, and when she asks what he means, he tells her it means "my brown hair lass." She dismisses her hair color as dull, but Jamie thinks it beautiful. Tentatively, he caresses her bare shoulder, but she self-consciously pulls up her shawl and, searching for another topic of conversation, sees his kilt crumpled on the floor and notes that he had a new kilt for the occasion. "Those are Fraser colors," he explains.Flashback to the previous day: Murtagh presents Jamie with a kilt with the Fraser colors, and when Jamie asks where he found it, Murtagh tells him that it belonged to the widow of a Fraser who lived about five miles away. He tells Jamie that the widows wants the kilt back, and grumbles that he almost didnt bring it anyway, as there are so many Redcoats in the village. Jamie says he knows, thats why hes not collecting his own wedding clothes, but Murtagh is skeptical and worried: "What do you think will happen, when you prance out of here with red hair, your size and wearing Fraser colors? You may as well paint a target on your back." Jamie tells him that he only plans to get married once, and he wants to do so in a way that would make his mother proud. Murtagh shakes his head ruefully. Jamie asks him what he thinks of Claire, and Murtagh tells him that she'll do. When Jamie asks if his mother would approve, Murtagh is gruff, but then asks if Jamie still has the broach. As Murtagh runs his finger over the broach, he tells Jamie that his mother had a sweet smile, and that Claires smile was just as sweet.Claire is surprised by Jamies story about Murtagh, and Jamie then goes on to describe his negotiations with Dougal over the wedding . . .Flashback to the previous day: Jamie has three demands before he marries Claire. Dougal is impatient, declaring that it would be easier just to kill them both. Jamie is adamant: First, that they be wed properly, in a church, before a priest . . .Dougal and one of the McKenzies rustle up a priest, a rather sickly specimen of a man, and drags him to the cold, tumble-down church. The priest nevertheless refuses to marry Jamie and Claire without the banns being read. Exasperated, they pull a sword on the priest and threaten him, but he has a small knife of his own, and isn't afraid to use it. When they point out that he is outnumbered, he cannily observes that he is the only priest, so they can't kill him if they want a marriage ceremony. The priest goes on to protest that he must follow the law of reading the banns. Dougal almost explodes, but the MacKenzie clansman with him stops him, and begins to reason with the priest, and they enter into a spirited argument of doctrine, law and Biblical intent. After a few exchanges, Dougal, impatient, finally threatens to kill the priest, and the priest admits that he would rather die in hell, because it would be warmer than the miserable cold of that church. Dougal strikes a bargain: If the priest performs the ceremony the next day, he will provide windows for the church . . . Jamie finishes the story for Claire: "And Dougal said the wee man didnt skip a beat before asking what time he wanted the ceremony." They laugh, and as she offers him a tidbit of food, he takes the food away and tenderly kisses her wrist. "What were your other conditions?"Flashback to the previous day: Rupert and Angus have been tasked with obtaining a wedding ring. They locate the village blacksmith, who also fashions jewelry, and strike a bargain with him to make a ring out of a key that Jamie has given them. The blacksmith agrees, saying that it will be ready next week, but Angus demands that the key be ready that day. "It'll cost ye," the blacksmith says, and Rupert pays up. Claire admires her ring, but asks Jamie, "The key to what?" Jamie shrugs and says that it was just something that he had in his sporran. "What was your third condition?" she asks, and he turns and smiles broadly at her. "I left that to Ned," he laughs.Flashback to the previous day: Ned has been tasked with obtaining a wedding dress. He visits the village brothel, thinking that the women may have a pretty dress he can buy or borrow. The residents are delighted to see him, and parade various frocks for him to choose from, as well as merrily offering their own services. The madam shoos them away, and tells Ned that she had had a client who had a dress made for his wife, but then was short of money to pay for his services at the brothel, and paid with the dress instead. She notes that it hasnt been worn before, which makes it a perfect dress for a bride. Ned pulls out his purse to pay for the dress, and the girls, excited by the sight of so much money, immediately throw themselves on him. The madam suggests that they could offer him some entertainment while she sees to having the dress wrapped up for him, and he eagerly agrees.Claire laughs outloud and accuses Jamie of making things up, but he tells him that Ned related the story himself, blushing all the while. "He even brought the strumpet to the wedding, did you not see her?" Claire is surprised, but admits that she didnt really pay attention. Jamie then asks her what she had been up to all day. She laughs self-consciously, and then holds up the bottle of whiskey suggestively.Flashback to earlier in the day: Murtagh throws back the covers of the bed, revealing a disheveled Claire, who had drunk herself into oblivion the night before at the prospect of marriage. The innkeepers wife is disapproving of Claire's obviously hangover. Jamie asks if she remembers anything about her wedding, and she assures him that she does, but also ruefully admits that she had a monstrous hangover. He tells her that he remembers every moment, every second . . .Jamie comes out of the church, dressed in a fine kilt and coat, to meet Claire in the churchyard, surrounded by admiring MacKenzies and curious villagers. She stands very still, and the innkeeper's wife, acting as her maid, removes her cloak, revealing Claire in a stunningly beautiful dress of richly embroidered pale grey and mossy green. "It was as if the sun came out," he tells her of his first sight of her. He bows low to her and whispers, "your servant, madam." In a moment of panic, Claire blurts out, "I cant marry you, I dont even know your name!" Jamie smiles, and introduces himself, slowly emphasizing each name:"It's Fraser -- James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser." She stares at him for a moment, and then puts her hand out for a handshake. "Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp," she responds politely. He takes her hand and holds it gently, and as they exchange a gaze, Dougal gruffly breaks in, with the suggestion that "if you two are finished, let's get on with it". Claire turns to enter the church, suddenly glancing down at her hand to see Franks wedding ring. Slowly, she draws it off, and slips it down the tight bodice of her dress. They exchange their vows in the candlelit church Jamie gazing intently at Claire as he repeats his, and Claire, not meeting his eyes, but looking down at their clasped hands, repeating hers. After the ring is blessed, Jamie slips it on her right ring finger, and she stares at him. Suddenly, Dougal draws his knife, and to Claire's shock, Jamie holds out his arm, wrist up and Dougals sword makes a cut across Jamie's wrist. Before she can make sense out of what is happening, he grasps her wrist and cuts it, too, and Jamie places their cut wrists together. As the blood mingles, Dougal ties their wrists together, and Jamie tells her to repeat the Gaelic words after him, which she does slowly and unsteadily. Afterwards, they kiss a lingering kiss, which sparks a look of hope on Jamies face. He tells her that the wrist binding is an old Gaelic custom, and the worlds mean "Blood of my blood, bone of my bone . . ." and then says, hesitantly, that the way she kissed him, he thought that maybe she didnt mind so much having to marry him. With a slight smile, she lightly runs her fingers along his shirt-clad arm. Rising, she tells him to stand up, and take off his shirt. "I want to look at you," she says softly. Holding her gaze, he removes his shirt, and slowly Claire circles him, allowing her fingers to brush against him in a lingering, admiring exploration. "Fair's fair -- take off yours as well," he says, his voice low. She steps away and removes her shift. Jamie stands, staring, and she asks lightly if he has never seen a naked woman before. "Aye, but not one so close -- and not one that's mine." A spark is lit, and their embrace quickly becomes passionate. As she reaches a climax, Jamie is surprised, and asked if that happens every time. "Only if the man is a very good lover," she tells him breathlessly, and she begins to play the aggressor, teaching him, to his delight, the pleasures of a woman who takes an active part in making love. Gasping at the end, he tells her that he thought his heart was going to burst . . .As Jamie falls asleep, Claire rises, and seeing that there is no more whiskey, she wraps herself in Jamie's plaid and ventures downstairs to the darkened tavern, finally quiet for the evening. As she gathers some food and more drink, Dougal enters the room, and tells her that he has been to visit Captain Randall, to tell him the news of her marriage. "What did he say?" she asks him, curious, and Dougal comments that there's probably even a limit to her tolerance for bad language. He tells her that Randall has "more important things to worry about than chasing after one stray Sassenach, no matter how pretty," and that he knows better than to kidnap Colums nephews wife. As she smiles in relief and turns back, he stops her and tells her that he "commends her for doing her duty, but it shouldnt stop her from sampling . . . other . . . pleasures," caressing her chin and lips suggestively. "I find you to be a most singular woman, Claire." She frowns, and reminds him that she is Jamies wife. She stares at him, aghast, and they are interrupted by Rupert, who comes into the room. Claire takes the opportunity to leave, but before she leaves, she thanks Rupert for his efforts for her that day, "the ring is magnificent!" Rupert, beaming, tells her that she is welcome, and offers her congratulations on her wedding day. She thanks him, and returns to their room, and Rupert observes to Dougal in a low voice and a nod after Claire that "Young Jamie may not have much experience, but that one looks well ridden!" Dougals fist suddenly slams into Dougals face. "Ooof! What did you do that for?!" complains Rupert, and Dougal tersely tells him to look after the horses. When Rupert tells him that he already has, Dougal tells him to do it again. Claire observes the byplay from the shadows of the stairs, and leaves Dougal alone, drinking in the darkened inn.Back in their room, Claire sits at a table, staring into the fire as Jamie sleeps. He awakens, and seeing her sitting there before the fire, he quietly rises from the bed and pulls something from his sporran. Coming up behind Claire, he drops a single rope of pearls around her neck, startling her. "They're Scotch pearls," he explains. "They belonged to my mother, and now they belong to my wife." As Claire examines them, he tells her that the necklace is one of the few things he has to remind him of his mother, "and they are very precious to me -- as are you, Claire," he tells her softly. Wearing nothing but the pearls, she reaches over to kiss him, sits astride him and they make love.The next morning, Jamie is in a cheerful mood, quickly getting dressed and declaring that he is so hungry that he could take a bite out of her. "I think you've already done that!" she teases him, stretching languorously. He grins quickly and with a leer, tells her that he looks forward to doing it again, too. Claire laughs, and as Jamie leaves, she begins to straighten up their room. Fetching her wedding dress from the floor, she gently shakes it out and is surprised when her wedding ring with Frank falls out of the bodice and rolls across the floor, lodging in a crack in the floorboards. Carefully, she plucks it up, and slides it on her left ring finger. Sinking to the floor, she holds up both hands, gazing at both rings. | historical fiction | train | imdb | I've recently been reading (actually listening to the audio-books) the Outlander series of books having completed 5 so far so when I saw the Starz TV series was coming out I just had to watch it.
In this case, I don't think people who are would be disappointed anyway as the screen writers did an excellent job of translating the 1st part of the book to the screen (I've only seen the 1st episode but I'm already hooked so I'm sure I'll enjoy the rest).
From the 1st episode I think they producers will not be shy to include the more sexual aspects of the Outlander books, as they do have this erotic element that actually makes the love between Claire and Jamie the driving force of their relationship which allows it to span centuries, even when they are no longer together.
I'm looking forward to the Claire Jamie love scenes hopefully to come...
I'm also going to enjoy the Scottish history and scenery, and loved the way they so far have included it in the TV series.
There must be millions of us around the world that love these books and I'm sure like me many of them will order the cable channel just to watch this.
Additionally, Starz bought 16 EPs rather than the usual 10, so that RDM has time to develop the story line and the many characters that appear in the book.
You don't have to read the book to enjoy the show and I believe new viewers who give it a chance over the next several EPs as the action in the story picks up won't be disappointed and will appreciate what all the fan fuss is about..
Having discovered Gabalton's novels only recently (generally reserving my limited reading time to the likes of Bernard Cornwell and Patrick O'Brien, more swords;less romance),I was pleased with the quality of the production, casting, pace and overall presentation of this complex story.
Yes. However, if the mini-series story line continues in keeping with the books (as seems likely)it will likely unfold into dovetailing themes of sacrifice,duty,honor,jealousies and complex loyalties that even many of the male viewers will relate wholeheartedly to.
We binged through the whole of Series 1 and became involved with Claire and Jamie, their story, friends, foes and family..
The forests, mountains, castles, give a unique impression to this wonderful series.The characters come to life on paper in talented actors and perfect for the roles.
Based on viewing only the first episode I think this is a wonderful adaptation of a much loved series of books.
A much anticipated series, the first episode, which was made available free by Starz on You Tube, sees Claire, a world war 2 nurse being transported back through time to Scotland prior to the a battle of Culloden where she meets Jamie and Captain Randall, two very different men who will come to play a large part in her life.
Just watched Outlander for the last 2 weeks, OMG the best series EVER, My husband and I love historical films, when browsing our New Amazon prime saw this and completely hooked , stayed up late every night to watch at least 2 episodes, last one tonight, my goodness didn't expect that ending, please, please tell us there will be a series three.
Some of this information is pertinent, and certainly some introduction into the character's life BEFORE being thrown back in time is necessary to really grasp how unsettling and inexplicable what she sees is, but unfortunately 40 minutes was just too long.After that somewhat arduous 40 minutes, when the protagonist Claire does wind up in the middle of the Plaid wearing sword brandishing Scottish highlands, the episode was phenomenal.
I think now they have fully introduced the back story future episodes will have more freedom to focus on the heart of this time travel tale.
Firstly, let me state, I am a 64 yr old male, from Scotland, who is an avid fan of the Outlander books, and not easily, or usually, impressed by film adaptations of my favourite books, much less the lower-budget, less accomplished, TV versions I've watched all of the first half-series, and can now say that I'm mightily impressed by the entire production so far The casting has been perfect, with both Jamie and Claire having just the right level of good looks and charm, without it turning into that ludicrous Hollywood glamour, which would spoil the whole earthiness needed to portray the characters as 18th century ScotsSpecial mention going to Tobias Menzies as Frank/Jack Randal - What a sympathetic husband, and what an utter scumbag of a soldier - He nails it The accompanying cast of highlanders and soldiers are beautifully cast, and the direction, through different in style from episode to episode, has carried the book's plot faithfully and with great artistic flair The music and scenery are both exquisite; showing Scotland at it's most powerful, and gloriously pretty I do feel sorry for those who've labelled it as merely being "cheap erotic fiction" - they obviously haven't read the books, or really watched enough of the story in its entirety to "get it in context" It's an adult love story, and is portrayed as such - and all the better for it Yes, it's both sexy, and rather violent too, in parts, but so is the series of books It is also historically fascinating, has a highly complex plot structure, multi-dimensional characters who aren't the usual hackneyed clones that mainstream cinema thrives on, and a sweeping saga which spans many decades; even centuries Those who have slagged it & put it down, have totally missed the pointTheir loss My wife and I are loving it, and found episode eight to be an absolute jawdropper of a finale to the half -series Can't wait for the rest Bring it on!!.
Seasons 1, 2 and (arguably) 3 were fantastic with Sam Heughan perfectly cast as Jamie Fraser a man whose honour, morals and care for others came before all else and whose love for Claire is no doubt the envy of many viewers.Yes, it would be fair to say we enjoyed it that much that we binge watched it...
make sense...But no, the same ridiculous story continues into Season 4, with lazy script writing resulting in cringe worthy episodes, bordering on the realms of irritation.
if by some 'magic stone circle' miracle a producer for Outlander does happen to read this, then please, either bring the show to a suitable end or raise the bar higher whilst discussing the story and script for future seasons.....
Glimmering and romantic series about love stories and passionate relationships in different times and two irreconciliables existences under historical background.
Focusing a beautiful nurse called Claire Randall who becomes involved with two vastly different men, as she is recently married to Frank Randall, Tobias Menzies, and being mysteriously thrown into a dangerous world in which she is forced to marry an impulsive Scotsman, Jamie Fraser : Sam Heughan as a romantic young warrior , it ignites a deep love story.It is a dramatic adventure romance series that certainly hits the mark, being plenty of thrills, fights, love scenes, luxurious costumes, shimmering photography, catching score, wonderful outdoors , all meld together under Ronald B.
This is a pretty good series based on the popular novels written by Diana Gabaldon, in which a women is swept back in an unknown Scottish world where her life is threatened, tearing her heart and suffering pain, danger, punishment, but also a real love.
What got off to a slow start kept me interested with the inclusion of time travel, burly men I wanted to believe I could become and a decent love story of two souls from different times - literally.This is exactly what the TV series portrays, only much worse.
Answer: A believable story line, good pacing and direction, intelligent social context reflecting values of the 18th century rather than that of the 21st.As to bodice ripping and dialogue like "I'll thank ye to take yer hands off me wife," this is adolescent storytelling at its most laughable.
After the first episode, which held much promise, I started reading the novels which, despite flaws in research and formulaic repetition of plot, I've found enjoyable and within 5 weeks was onto book 5 where I remain as the story begins to lag and indulge and dwell on insignificant detail.Some of those criticisms I could repeat for the series but accompanied by more.Much has been made of the comparisons with Game of Thrones and this is one of the reasons why I hoped so much for this series to be good.
It's not surprising no British network opted to show this prior to the referendum as it could have been as incendiary as it was false (at least to those who think Braveheart is realistic and reason to 'hate the English').These diversions are at the cost of key plot points and character development in the book which are completely lost or glossed over.
What I have come to find is that the character of Claire is a turn-off - both the series and the book.
Outlander is complete sh!t, I tried so hard to like this rubbish but after 8 episodes of rape, I lost all hope of salvation for this romantic soft porn drivel.there is no need for more words here but as IMDb requires it here goes...
The only difference with Outlander and a run of the mill soapie drama is that the sets are more elaborate and the scenery pleasant on the eye.Shoddy story telling and unrealistic characterizations of people in this series made it tedious to watch.
This could have been a great series with more realistic, believable characters and better story lines..
The show stars Caitriona Balfe as Claire Randall, a married World War II nurse who in 1945 finds herself transported back to the Scotland of 1743 after touching some ancient stones, after travelling back in time she encounters the dashing Highland warrior Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) and becomes embroiled in the Jacobite rebel uprisings.
I can see that some of the reviewers on IMDb are not happy about this but i myself think that the explicit graphical nature of all the different parts of life that this show has to offer and its no holds barred story-line makes the show that much better to watch.
Having approached the first episode with a large degree of excitement, having loved reading the books in the series, I was pretty disappointed to find myself completely underwhelmed by Claire.Her performance is just disappointingly awkward and wooden and I can't find it in me to relate to or sympathise with her.
A less beautiful actress with even a touch of appeal or charisma would have done much better.Since this most central character is failing so dismally I can't see myself watching for much longer, but I'll give it another episode or two in the hope of improvement..
There are even a few musical numbers!But what really grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go was the sublime combination of epic, heart-melting romance and brutally graphic realism, featuring (in the final two episodes of season 1) some of the most violent and sustained scenes of male rape and torture that I've ever seen.I cannot emphasise enough how thrilling it is as a viewer to be treated like a fully-rounded and intelligent human being, equally capable of being swept away by a dreamy romance, and enduring unspeakable horrors - all within the same dramatic framework.
While the wedding night sex scene was well done and added to the story, the continuous showing of Claire's breasts and her and Jamie's love-making became voyeuristic and added absolutely nothing to the story-line - it is there simply to titillate sex starved women and 14 year-old boys.
I do not understand how a series can get worse, you would expect it to get better when the actors grow into their parts more and more.Jamie is irritating me more and more; absolutely not the character from the books.
Everything in a bumpy slow-motion, like watching a Kung-fu movie from the seventies!But the worst of all is that the makers of the series invented a complete storyline for Frank!
He is absolutely not interesting or relevant and certainly not captivating enough to devote half of the episode to!It it too bad, because I was really looking forward to the series, but I'm done with it!
The on screen romance of Jamie and Claire is like nothing I've seen in any other movie or show.
I have only read the first book and I felt like the first season mirrored it pretty accurately and did a wonderful job bringing these characters to life.
In fact, it's VERY similar to a book I read in the 70's - beautiful woman visits old English castle and is transported back in time to fall in love with handsome knight who lives there.
This show is a powerful example of a well executed piece of art,this is nothing, short of a masterpiece with every single person even the extras putting in a superb performance, although special recognition have to go to Catriona Balfe and Sam Heughan with the latter putting in a career defining performance, not to forget Tobias Mendez, who did his role so well that it gave me the chills.You can easily without an effort root for Claire and Jamie,they do their scenes so well that you even think they are real couple.
It's a great escapism hour for anyone and though there is a theme of romance and history in it, it's bound to be attractive to men too with the political struggle and the life like effects ( which can be brutal at times but was reality in those days).
If you'd like to watch a good series, look for something else..
This series, like the book, is highly over rated.
I read the first book a few times, then realized that I didn't like her story, the male chauvinism (true in the 18th century, but not appealing all the same).
Her characters aren't really all that interesting, the stories seem to follow the same theme.Now I know what kind of responses I'm going to get from Outlander fans--definitely hostile ones.
I would have given the series a 9/10, until the last episode of season one.
Or is that just the avid/excited fan talking.If you haven't read the books, I do think you would still be able to follow the story line, and hopefully the same quality of story lines runs throughout this series.I don't know how I am going to wait until next week.
I don't care that this was a "good" book; the series' appalling writing, appalling acting and appalling direction can be excused at first by at least an interesting if not original concept of traveling back in time to Braveheart Scotland.
It's a good thing that the series is filmed in beautiful Scotland and that there is exquisite attention to authentic detail in costuming and setting, because readers and viewers alike will be either so grateful or intrigued that it might take a few episodes to realize that something important was missing.
The beginning episodes would have been more interesting and exciting and have kept the continuing love story of a "rare mutual passion" on point if Claire's POV revealed her attraction to Jamie along with Jamie's more obvious interest in her.The odd diminution of Jamie Fraser's presence throughout the series by the exclusion of key moments that reveal his strong inner character, intelligence, and innate good humor--the things that make him such a beloved literary character-- does a great disservice both to an unforgettable book character, Jamie Fraser, and a wonderful actor, Sam Heughan.
I must of have watched each episode of season one for four times at least.
When I started to watch this show, the story line looked very interesting.
Having been someone who has never read the books and coming to this new, season one and it's first few episodes really hooked me to it.
The next time before making vile scenes like the prison one with Jamie and Randall, maybe they should consider conducting a survey to find out whether heterosexual, homosexual and anyone in other sex labels would want to watch a scene as disturbing and graphical as this one they presented.
There are British actors who have wonderful american accents, but she's not one of them.Also, shouldn't a series based on books written by an American woman pay homage to that fact and cast the American characters appropriately?.
To my fantasies of what Claire, Jamie, Frank, Sir John, Dougal and the myriad other beloved characters looked like in my mind's eye.
I don't see Claire in Balfe.I see a little bit of "my" Jamie in Heughan -- at times around the eyes and occasionally in his smile.
But it wasn't until the very end of the first season that I felt the character was behaving like Jamie.
Although it has been a long time since I read the first book (over 20 years!), the Jamie that I remembered was not so boyish as he is portrayed early in the series.So there's that.
Fans of the books love Scotland and the scenery and (to a lesser extent) the costumes deliver.I give this series a 4 instead of a 3 because, as I've written before, at least they tried.
I haven't read the book but this is such a beautiful series, amazing atmosphere, picturesque characters and wonderful places, perfect costumes and altogether very credible as far as picturing the historical context goes.
I am a history film nut and I love story about time travel so I decided to check out Outlander to see if I go get into it.
After several re-reads, I was looking forward to watching the beginning of the series and the question was: will it be up to the challenge of the story? |
tt0209163 | The Mummy Returns | In 3067 BC, the Scorpion King leads his army on a campaign to conquer the world. After fighting for seven years, his army is defeated while attacking Thebes and exiled to the desert of Ahm Shere, where his men die of heat exhaustion. After vowing to give Anubis his soul for the power to defeat his enemies, an oasis forms to hide the Scorpion King's pyramid and he is given a legion of jackal warriors in return. The Army of Anubis sweeps across Egypt, but once their task is finished, Anubis claims the Scorpion King's soul and his army.
In 1933, Rick and Evelyn O'Connell explore a ruined mortuary temple in ancient Thebes with their son, Alex, where they find the Bracelet of Anubis. In London, the bracelet locks onto Alex, showing him a vision directing him to Ahm Shere. Alex has seven days to reach the oasis, or the bracelet will kill him when the sun's rays shine on the Scorpion King's pyramid.
Evelyn is captured by an Egyptian cult who resurrect Imhotep; they wish to use his power to defeat the Scorpion King, giving him command of Anubis' army to take over the world. The cult, led by Baltus Hafez, the British Museum's curator, includes a warrior named Lock-Nah and Meela Nais; the latter being a reincarnation of Imhotep's love interest Anck-su-namun. Rick sets out to rescue Evelyn, accompanied by her brother Jonathan and the Medjai Ardeth Bay.
Hafez attempts to sacrifice Evelyn but a fight ensues between Rick and Imhotep. Imhotep calls on the help of mummified soldiers to kill Rick and the others. After freeing Evelyn, they flee on a double-decker bus with the soldiers in pursuit. After defeating them, Alex is kidnapped by Lock-Nah, and along with the cult travels to Egypt. The O'Connells pursue them to rescue Alex, along with Rick's associate from his past adventures, Izzy, a pilot, who provides the group with transportation.
The bracelet gives Alex directions to Ahm Shere that Imhotep follows and they travel there by train. At each location, Alex leaves clues for his parents, who follow in Izzy's dirigible. Imhotep uses the Book of the Dead to give Meela Nais the soul of Anck-su-namun, but by doing so he allows Evelyn to unlock the memories of her previous life as Princess Nefertiri, the bracelet's keeper and Pharaoh Seti I's daughter. Lock-Nah finds Alex leaving clues, so Imhotep makes a wall of water that attacks the dirigible, causing the O'Connells to crash into the jungle of Ahm Shere. Izzy stays with the dirigible in hopes to repair it. By nightfall, the O'Connells attack the cult, and both groups are attacked by pygmy mummies. Rick retrieves Alex while Ardeth Bay kills Lock-Nah. They escape the pygmies, who kill the cult except for Baltus. Imhotep and Anck-su-namun escape unharmed.
Rick and Alex eventually make it to the pyramid before sunrise, where the bracelet detaches from Alex's arm. Ardeth regroups with the Medjai in case Anubis's army rises. Anck-su-namun soon stabs Evelyn, killing her, and escapes with Imhotep. Rick, determined to avenge the death of Evelyn, pursues Imhotep. Baltus puts on the bracelet and revives the army. Anubis takes Imhotep's powers, wanting Imhotep to fight as a mortal. Rick finds Imhotep summoning the Scorpion King and fights him. The Scorpion King interrupts them, and Imhotep lies to him that Rick was sent to kill him. At the same time, the Medjai battle Anubis's army of jackal warriors. While Rick and the Scorpion King fight, Baltus is killed. Jonathan and Alex steal the Book of the Dead from Anck-su-namun and use it to resurrect Evelyn, who confronts Anck-su-namun while Alex and Jonathan go to help Rick.
The scepter Jonathan has been carrying extends into a spear that can kill the Scorpion King. The Medjai defeats Anubis' army, but have only defeated the vanguard; the full army charges toward them. Rick kills the Scorpion King, using the scepter, sending him and his army back into the Underworld, which causes the oasis to be sucked back into the pyramid. Rick and Imhotep hang above a pit that leads to the underworld. Evelyn risks her life to save Rick, but Anck-su-namun abandons Imhotep, who, heartbroken, chooses to fall to his death. Anck-su-namun, while escaping, falls into a pit of scorpions and is stung to death. The O'Connells reach the top of the pyramid, which is sinking into the desert. Izzy arrives with a modified dirigible and rescues the O'Connells just as the oasis and the pyramid disappears completely. They depart into the sunset, with Ardeth Bay saluting them, before riding off. | comedy, mystery, historical, violence, flashback, action, entertaining | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0407998 | The Mistress of Spices | Tilo (Aishwarya Rai), an immigrant from India, is a shopkeeper, an unusually strong clairvoyant, and a chosen Mistress of Spices. The Spices she gives to her customers help them to satisfy their certain needs and desires, such as "sandalwood to dispel painful memories; black cumin seed to protect against evil eye."
As a young girl, Tilo was initiated as one of several young Mistresses of Spices by the First Mother (Zohra Sehgal), who warns the girls about certain rules they must follow, or face dire consequences. They are instructed never to leave their respective stores all around the world, physically touch the skin of the people they meet, or use the great and incomprehensible strength and power of the Spices to their own ends.
Tilo ends up in the San Francisco Bay Area in a store called "Spice Bazaar". Tilo's customers include Haroun, a cab driver (Nitin Ganatra), a grandfather (Anupam Kher) dealing with an American-born granddaughter Geeta (Padma Lakshmi), Kwesi, a man trying to impress his girlfriend (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Jagjit, a teenager trying to fit in at school (Sonny Gill Dulay).
Her life takes a turn one day, when a young architect named Doug (Dylan McDermott) crashes his motorcycle outside her store. Tilo tends to his injuries while trying to ignore their mutual romantic attraction. Her life changes when he touches her and they begin to fall in love.
But the Spices are suddenly angry and jealous, and things soon start to go sour in her relationships with her other customers. Haroun gets in an accident, Geeta's family situation does not improve, Jagjit falls in with the wrong crowd at school, and Kwesi's girlfriend breaks up with him. Doug comes to meet her that night and sadly tells her that his Native American-born mother had died.
Tilo recognizes that the source of these misfortunes is her breaking of the rules. The First Mother comes to her in a vision and scolds her for choosing Doug over the Spices. She vows that she will return to India, and posts a notice about a closing sale. She goes all out to help her customers one last time and tells the Spices that she will spend just one night with Doug, and then she will give herself utterly to them. She closes the store and goes off with Doug for the night. After a night of love-making, she leaves him a note that she must leave and cannot return, but that she will always deeply love him. Then she goes back to the store and sets the Spices on fire, with her at the center of the flames, as a sign of eternal servitude and slavery to the mystical Spices.
Doug comes searching for her, and finds the store devastated. But Tilo has not been burned after all; she is still there, alive and barely conscious. There is no sign of a fire, but there has been an earthquake. We see a vision of the First Mother sitting at the beach, telling her that because she demonstrated her willingness to give up everything for the Spices, now she can have everything she desires and the Spices will never desert her again. Doug agrees to help her rebuild the store, and she happily reunites with him as they walk along the beach holding hands. | murder, flashback | train | wikipedia | Chadha co-wrote the screenplay here with her husband.The movie follows Tilo, played by Aishwarya Rai, who is a member of an old, mystical cult that worships spice in all its forms.
Tilo, who also has the power to see visions of the future, soon ends up helping a whole coterie of characters: a man (Anupam Kher) who is distressed over his granddaughter (Padma Lakshmi), a woman who has grown up in America and adopted western ways, much to his dismay; Jagjit (Sonny Gill Dulay), a teenager who is having trouble with the kids at school; Haroun (Nitin Chandra Ganatra), a cab driver that has a cloudy future; Kwesi (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), a man trying to win the heart of a woman.But to be successful, Tilo must follow three rules: one, she must never leave the store; two, she must never touch the skin of another person; three, she can never use the spices for her own gain.
One day a man (Dylan McDermott) falls off his motorcycle outside her store and they are both instantly drawn to one another, challenging Tilo's devotion to her cause and threatening her control over the spices.This is a nice, light film, reminiscent in many ways of Chocolat, with Aishwarya Rai in the Juliette Binoche role.
I didn't think the voice-over narration of Rai's character's inner thoughts was entirely successful, although I can't see how else you could really do it; funny enough, the voice-overs reminded me of another spice-related movie, David Lynch's Dune.
She becomes the Mistress of Spices and is sent to the Spice Bazaar in San Francisco, with the mission of following three basic rules: help her clients to accomplish their desires with the spices, but never hers; never leave the store; and never be touched in the skin.
When she meets the handsome American architect Doug (Dylan McDermott), she feels a great attraction and desire for him, breaking the first rule and being punished by the spices."The Mistress of Spices" is a predictable but pleasant film that uses the idea of movies like "Chocolate", "Woman on Top", "Como Agua Para Chocolate" blending romance with food or spice or chocolate or cookies.
Further, the gorgeous Miss World 1994 and Queen of Bollywood Aishwarya Rai makes this little film worth with her beauty and participating in most of the scenes.
However, being a "mistress of spices," Aishwarya is bound by certain rules, which she begins to find suppressing and enslaving once she begins to fall in love.
This film looks at the art of using spices to improve lives and delves into Aishwarya's internal conflict between love and duty, making this a very interesting and reinvigorating movie..
It's difficult for any one who has a good appreciation for culinary art not to be attracted to this spicy shop, spacious, tastefully appointed, with thousands of colourful spices displayed in so many different interesting fashions.
A sheer joy for the eyes.So is Aishwaryi Rai, Miss World of 1994, who graces the screen with wide-eyed innocence through most of the movie and appears in the last scene radiating with alluring glamour in a bright red evening gown, with her hair finally let down, falling like graceful ripples to her shoulder.Even accepting the premise of a fairy tale, it's hard to believe how Tilo (Rai) can run her spice shop all by herself without EVER leaving it, the first of three conditions for having her power bestowed by "the spices".
This "power" is a vague ability to see other people's past and sometimes future and to use spices to help them.The romance with dashing architect Doug (Dylan McDermott) is appropriately low-key, and hence believable.
Make no mistake though, it is a poor film.Ill keep it short because there isn't really much to say.Story: Tilo (Aishwarya) is part of some ancient mystical cult which uses the power of spices to heal people, around the world.
I mean I think that some subplot was needed to show the way the spices work (or however you want to word it), but they really detracted form the main story, which itself wasn't up to much in the first place.I think the very basic concept of the film was handled poorly.
I think the fault does lie in the script and the direction as no one had any real scope for performance and they were all just basically required to look good for the camera.Unnecessary voice-overs, really got to me As I said, if you go in with no expectations at all, you could well enjoy it, but its still a poorly made film.4/10.
The story was created and directed by Paul Mayeda Berges (with help from Gurinder Chada) who has given us such fine films as "Paris, je t'aime', 'Bride & Prejudice' and 'Bend It Like Beckham'.
So the question arises as to why this film just doesn't quite make it: the reason may be the tough marriage of fantasy with reality, assigning more importance to dialog between the Mistress and the spices than to the development of storyline.Tilo (the ravishingly beautiful Aishwarya Rai) was taken in as a child by a spiritually inclined First Mother (Zohra Sehgal) who trains young girls the mysteries of spices - their magic, their meaning and their rigid life style imposed on the developing Mistresses.
Those who gain the secrets of the spices are sent into the world, warned never to use the magic for them selves, never to touch human skin, and never to leave the shops where their spices are shared to help mankind.
Tilo moves to the Bay Area and does good deeds for her customers until she meets Doug (Dylan McDermott) who needs her care after a motorcycle accident.
They touch, their eyes speak of mutual desire and Tilo is thrown into conflict of being a mistress of spices or of having a love life.
How situations and destiny work through the story is the meager line of the tale, the majority of the script is Tilo communicating with her spices!The cast contains some fine character actors such as Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Caroline Chikezie, Anupam Kher, and of course Zohra Sehgal.
When a film relies on over 50% of it's dialogue through the source of spoken thought it is corrupt of imagination.On a more general note: Mistress of the Spices is a poor story poorly told.
She just stands and twinkles her eyes, coy and shy, reserved, steeped in age old tradition and modesty, wrapped in Indian sarees.Doug (McDermott) acts much better, has more expression to his face, delivers his lines well.The customers to her shop add color, contrast and variety.
They all look lost and scattered, like little kids who have memorized their lines and come to get a pound of garlic or some crushed almond powder.It is like when you know which spices provide what relief, I would not visit that store again.
The story did not do the movie justice and the script poorly written.The actors looked lost except Doug (McDermott).
Overall the film is a huge success, Paul Berges has directed with true brilliance and truly captured the title, 'The Mistress Of Spices.'.
Now, Tilo lives outside San Francisco and runs a well-known spice shop, where she is revered as an herbalist and good person.
I don't even want to waste my time explaining what went wrong with the movie,but this is the worst adaptation of a book i have ever seen.
It steers very close to "so bad it's good" territory but does not quite get there.Plot summary: A neurotic workaholic Indian woman completely loses it but love finds her because she looks like miss-world '94.Some of the movie's underlying message is very offensive, let's do a quick rundown: "any problem can be solved by the use of the appropriate spice" - consumption is the answer..."you must not use your powers for yourself, must not touch a man or leave the store" - you also happen to be a woman..."there is one spice for each person" - your personality is a constant, no need for free will..."this store customer experienced trauma, violence and injustice in the home country he had to leave as a refugee, let's give him some spice so that he forgets all about it" - small people should not expect justice...Then there are the countless holes in the script, for example how come the mistress of spices never talks about her strange obligations even though her cult leader never explicitly forbid talking, how did she gets to the US, how did she open this very nice store, could this cult with its amazing powers not have more ambitious goals, like world peace or something?
There is nothing about these script holes that can be explained away by declaring this to be "magical realism", as the point of magic is tricking the audience into not seeing what's happening behind the scene, and in this movie it's the exact opposite, the magic weighs a ton and is obvious scaffolding for the rest.There were moments of total camp that had me working hard to suppress laughter: the bike ride across San Francisco bay, the car ride, the whole falling in love part, the add-styled imagery.I guess that magical realism is one of the most difficult style to write a script in, to follow through with the ideas in this movie properly would have required years of additional work on the script, lots and lots more thinking.Finally, the actors' performance were not so bad.
Written by the same team, Mistress of Spices is a mythical tale which makes the Indian spices the star of the movie, set in a medicinal store, with Rai as the conjurer and mixer of modern day "bomoh" like medicine to cure mankind of their ills.Some might not like the way the movie presented itself, with its cheesy focus and voice-over on the qualities of the various spices.
However, the way that the spices are shot, made them look beautiful in their sacks or glass bottles.Hidden behind these herbs is the mistress Tilo (Rai, meaning sesame seed), whose precognitive powers are granted to her by the spices.
You see, being a mistress has its rules, and they are to never let another skin touch yours (ooh, touchy), to never step out of the shop (that's pretty restrictive and a possible loop hole) and not to concoct anything for one's own benefit.So while trying her best to stay away from the good looking man, the movie spins into a tale of forbidden love, with punishment meted out by the powers that be dwelling within those spices - I tell you, they're quite vengeful.
A tale in which spices have magical powers and the mistress of spices, a beautiful Hindu girl owner of a spice bazaar in San Francisco, is a sort of good witch.
Moreover, the movie is corny and has no charm.Some of the actors are good and believable in their roles, especially the always lovely Aishwarya Rai as the Mistress Lilo, Nirin Ganatra as her friend taxi-driver Haroun, and Anupam Kher as the traditional grandfather of a modern Indo-American girl.
Zhora Sehgal is always great and pops up in all sorts of films as "miscellaneous old Indian lady" and Aishwariya Rai is quite astonishingly loose-the-thread-of-what-you-were-talking-about beautiful.On the other hand Dylan McDermott is awful, utterly wooden and unconvincing as the architect-biker.
Sorry to say I found this movie pretty grim.I did find Ashwarya Rai to be quite luminous and lovely.Her performance seemed pretty nuanced but somewhat one dimensional.The story is confusing and hard to describe.It is like a lenghty advertisement for both Ashwarya and spices/aromatics/mystical healing properties of various substances.Mind you the rattling chilies wore thin on me!
I went with 2 of my sons who are major film going people and when asked to describe the plot line,simply could't.It is long- and feels long.Dylan McDermott is easy on the eyes- he uses all the usual tricks to allure- unshaven,motorcycle,architect....but there is essentially no chemistry between him and Ashwarya Rai. I was very disappointed in this film.I unfortunately could't recommend going to it.A rental on a dark gloomy November night might be OK- warm colors,good cinematography etc..
One day, Doug (Dylan McDermott) walks in leaving her powers in chaos.This is a movie of magical surrealism.
The director (Paul Mayeda Berges) has done some decent work (Bend it Like Beckham, Bride and Prejudice), but this movie is bad.
It's full of plot loopholes, slow, melodramatic, relies too much on exposition.The movie isn't helped by Aishwarya Rai, a beautiful woman, but a mediocre actress.
I like the fact that they didn't overdo her hair and make-up and her outfits were plain.The story was a bit weird and the plot almost non-existent but, non the less, it was an interesting take on the magic genre.If you're an Aishwarya Rai fan then I would suggest that you watch the movie and make up your own mind.
This has to be one of the worst films ever, although I have to admit it is better than Bride and Prejudice, nothing can be worse than that.The only thing good about this film is Aishwarya Rai's performance, she can act, shame about the accent.This film just doesn't make sense, there's so many questions that run through your mind whilst watching i.e How did she come to the us in the first place?, how does she get all essential needed if she never leaves the shop?
Even worse, he fails to lift the movie from being a mere depiction of absurd hocus pocus to one where magical elements would seem almost natural even in the humdrum life of a Western city.In the end, I felt impelled to laugh every time I saw Aish go up to the window to gaze out wordlessly with a bunch of red peppers hanging behind her.Perhaps the director believed he could ride on the bandwagon of success that all Indian things seem to have currently but he seems to have miscalculated his own ability to interpret a story such as this even with wife Gurinder standing by his side..
Where else can you get a lot of spice knowledge, see Aishwarya Rai close up and a nice eggplant recipe all in the same movie..
Unfortunately, while Miss Rai and Dylan McDermott do a lovely job and the direction is fine, I felt the story itself was a bit of a letdown.
Frankly, I found this to be very problematic.The film finds Rai in San Francisco running a spice shop.
Everything was in place for this to be a real benchmark American Bollywood fusion flick (are there enough out there for that to be an actual genre?), but Dylan McDermott was so horribly miscast as Aishwarya Rai's love interest that I was gagging every time they shared the screen.
Really, this film could have been so much more powerful with a more appropriate male lead.The idea of the magic of the spices was a bit of a stretch for me at first, but Aishwarya played it well and carried it off nicely.
This, however, was WAY below my expectations, and I think that could have been prevented by simply adding one ingredient - a different director.Aishwarya is absolutely beautiful, and I'm sure that she can act - when she's given something to work with.
But the movie starts with Tilo already in the spice shop in Oakland, then shows how she got there in a series of flashbacks.
Since Aishwarya can't leave the store, there's not a lot of action--how many times can you pick up a handful of spices and make it interesting?
My summary is from my favourite line in the film, when Doug pesters Tilo for the name of his spice and she refuses to tell him because it contradicts with her feelings for him.
Aishwarya Rai plays Tilo to the pulp, as an innocent, as a young woman wanting to break free and live, as an understated beauty who knows nothing but spices, and most importantly as an enigma.
First of all I do not know how I landed up to watch this unbearable movie...The characters are really weak, The plot nothing great.
Paul Mayeda Berges, known for his collaboration with his wife, Gurinder Chadha, on the films: Bend it like Beckham, and Bride and Prejudice, takes a role in the director's chair, in the book-to-movie adaptation: Mistress of Spices.Raised as a mistress of the spice at a young age, Tilo, moves to San Francisco, and opens an Indian Spices store.
Having a second sight, and so being able to see into other people's lives, Tilo is able to use her power of the spice, to help others.
However, McDermott is easily out acted by his counterpart Aishwarya Rai. Rai seemingly appears to vent her feelings, but this is exactly the character of Tilo: she has to let the Spices dictate her life, and not her true emotions.With good cinematography and fairly decent acting, Mistress of Spices has the basics covered.
My main problem with the movie lies with Tilo (Rai), and what is it that she sees in Doug (McDermott) that actually makes her want to break the rules of the spices.
The only element in this movie that is like the book is that the "magical" woman is sent far away from her homeland, with her vast knowledge of how spices can help others, and her own struggle with keeping with the rules of the spices.
I liked the fact that I learned something about some of the spices, and the cinematography was nice, but I've seen better, I found this movie to be slow and dull.
If you look through the characters and the story you'll appreciate this movie.
The use of voice-over for Tilo's thoughts may have been necessary so that the audience could know about the different spices, but it just did not feel right.
Doug's girlfriend suddenly shows up in Tilo's Indian spice store so she can find out how to cook for him. |
tt0032612 | The Howards of Virginia | The film is set in colonial Virginia between the 1750s and 1781. Matt Howard (Cary Grant), orphaned son of a backwoods Virginia farmer, uses his connections with his schoolmate Tom Jefferson to get employment as a surveyor and a grant of a thousand acres on the Shenandoah. While surveying the Williamsburg estate of planter Fleetwood Peyton (Cedric Hardwicke) he meets with Peyton's sister Jane (Martha Scott). For both of them it is eternal love at first kiss, and despite differences of class and culture, and the enmity of Fleetwood,
Jane marries Matt and follows him to his cabin in the west country.Within a few years, the estate is thriving and the cabin on the hillside has become a gracious colonial home. There are minor conflicts with neighbors and over manners, but the Howards successfully raise a clutch of children. The one major instability is over the eldest son, Peyton Howard, whose inherited lameness reminds Matt of his hated brother-in-law, and whom Matt therefore cannot love or even bring himself to touch. As time passes, and conflict with England looms, Matt is sent by his neighbors to the House of Burgesses in Williamsburg, where he and Fleetwood represent the extreme rebel and Tory positions.In 1776, the entire family moves back to Williamsburg as war threatens, and after the passage of the Virginia resolution for independence, Matt leaves to fight the British under General Washington. A few years later, after quarreling with their uncle over their father's rebel stand, Peyton and his younger brother James are expelled from the Peyton home, and they too go north to join up with their father, and are accepted as dispatch riders for Washington.Listening unseen to his two sons arguing over the merits of the rebellion, Matt Howard realizes that Peyton is closer to his own principles and political beliefs than his beloved James, and he tries to communicate his love. But war gets in the way: Peyton is sent with a message for Lafayette, and we see him shot off his horse by a British patrol. Matt and the rest of the army trudge south to meet the British army, which is bottled up near Yorktown. When the army reaches Williamsburg, Matt forces his way into Washington's presence and asks after Peyton: his mission had been to draw the British fire so that other messengers could get through, but he was merely wounded and is recuperating back at home.At Fleetwood Peyton's house Matt finds his son and they reunite, together with their mother and the rest of the Howards. The odd man out is Fleetwood, who has become cynical and bitter at the outcome of the war and what he sees as the destruction of Tidewater society.The film was commercially unsuccessful despite an excellent cast; Cary Grant was out of his element playing a backwoods American, and the script, though literate, was not really strong. The political conflict, though real enough, is never argued intelligently: Matt and Fleetwood seem to be merely acting out their class positions. And the class conflict within the marriage never really surfaces, as Jane's backwoods estate is miraculously transformed into a Tara minus all the slaves.The time scheme of the story also seems inconsistent. Matt is 12 when his father is killed with Braddock in the French and Indian War (1755), so he was born in 1743. His sons are supposedly 18 and 16 when they join Washington's army at Valley Forge (1777-8), so they were born in 1760 and 1762. This would require Matt to be 16, or even younger, when he courts Jane Peyton. But neither of them is supposed to be an adolescent, and of course the actors playing them, Cary Grant and Martha Scott, were 35 and 27 when the film was made. | historical fiction | train | imdb | Movies about the American Revolution for some reason have never succeeded as well as those about the Civil War. My guess is that the best of them is Drums Along the Mohawk and that was about one of the more obscure theaters of that war.Like Gone With the Wind, the Howards of Virginia is taken from a rather sprawling novel.
The Howards of Virginia is a condensed version of the novel and some of the characterization has been sacrificed in the screen translation.Nevertheless it's a good story about a fictional Matt Howard from his days as a youth hearing the news about his father's death with Braddock's army in the French and Indian War to just before the Siege at Yorktown.
Of course growing up with Thomas Jefferson, it's not surprising that Howard develops the opinions he does.Cary Grant is cast against type as Matt Howard.
In point of fact if you want to see the real Cary Grant on screen look at None, But the Lone Heart, Gunga Din, or Sylvia Scarlett.
Cary Grant was the best role Cary Grant ever played.If The Howards of Virginia were made 10 years later, Burt Lancaster would have been spot-on in terms of casting.Martha Scott is fine as the Tory girl that Cary Grant woos and wins.
It's quite a culture shock for her coming to the mostly unsettled Shenandoah valley among Grant's frontier friends and neighbors, but her best scenes in the film are at that point.Of course I think both Grant and Scott are acted off the screen when Cedric Hardwicke is on.
As Scott's older brother Fleetwood Payton, Hardwicke is easily the best in the film.
Hardwicke managed to capture all the elements in Fleetwood Payton well as well as his losing his mind as his well ordered aristocratic world tumbles down about him.Richard Carlson is very much what I picture as the young Thomas Jefferson, full of new ideas and quite the rebel against his own class.
My guess is that in the book a whole lot of familiar names made it there, but were not in the screenplay.This is not the American Revolution's Gone With the Wind, but taken on its own terms The Howards of Virginia is good entertainment and does capture some of the motivating spirit behind the Virginia patriots and tories..
Unlike the few other American Revolution films Hollywood has made, this one was both interesting and did an excellent job in conveying WHY the Colonists were rebelling and didn't paint the British as total buffoons or Nazis (like in THE PATRIOT).
As an American History teacher, I must point out that despite coming from Hollywood in 1940, the realism in spirit is quite surprising and I could recommend this to kids, as they'd learn a lot.It was odd to see Cary Grant as a bit of a rag-tag outdoorsman, but he carried it off better than I'd expected.
Plus, his British accent really wouldn't have been out of place in the Colonies at that time.Another big plus for the film was the relationship between Grant and his sons.
Yes, it's a bit manipulative, but I really liked the way the writers dealt with this relationship in the movie.
I love Cary Grant and that's the only reason I kept watching this movie.
It felt like it was about four hours long.While the story itself was pretty solid, the execution was very poor.
Grant's accent wasn't consistent at all (it was there, and then gone, then Irish, then English, then gone again, etc.) and neither he nor his wife appeared to age (despite the movie taking place over 20 years).
I'm a huge classic movie buff (and Cary Grant buff) so I'm glad I watched the movie, but it's not on my list to watch again.
Possibly Cary Grant's worst performance...terribly miscast....
CARY GRANT insisted that he would never do another costume film after THE HOWARDS OF VIRGINIA and it's easy to see why after viewing the film tonight on TCM.
Except for a couple of well played scenes with his sons (TOM DRAKE and PHIL TAYLOR), Grant's performance is way too broad to be acceptable as part of a serious historical epic.Director Frank Lloyd never once tones down Grant's performance and lets the hyperactive Grant overact at any given moment in a role he clearly doesn't know how to play.
At least we do get more restrained work from MARTHA SCOTT as Grant's aristocratic wife and SIR CEDRIC HARDWICKE as her snobbish brother who sides with the British during the Revolutionary War period.Obviously a lot of expense went into creating the right atmosphere for this story of the turmoil surrounding America's independence among the colonies, and there are times when you wish even more had been spent to produce the film in the gorgeous Technicolor of that era.
But the script is a weak one, never able to maintain the sort of interest it should have had over a running time of two hours.The banal dialog that closes the film is about as jingoistic as you can get and enough to make anyone wince.
The story was probably chosen because the producers hoped to make another DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK or GONE WITH THE WIND--but they failed utterly to do so.Summing up: Sad to see Grant so badly miscast and not given proper direction..
I was a bit surprised to see so many other reviewers panning this film, since I had seen it once before and thought it was quite good.
I watched it again, and I still believe it's a far better-than-average costume drama.Several people thought Cary Grant was miscast, and even criticized his British accent.
His character's progression over time, in this film, was believable and, I thought, well done.
I suspect it parallels, in some ways, Grant's life changes from humble British kid to acclaimed Hollywood star.The film itself, with its use of the colonial Williamsburg settings and attention to detail about frontier life, was refreshing, as of course was the excellent casting overall.
I'd recommend it for kids, especially, since what they get for American history class about this period of time is truly awful -- what little there is.I'd give it a solid 8, easily..
Cary Grant doesn't look like he knows quite how to play this guy, and I don't blame him.
The wrong elements of the plot are emphasized, and the character of Matthew Howard is less a complicated man than a simple cypher.It's not a bad movie by any means, but it looks like it's trying desperately to copy "A Tale of Two Cities" and "Gone with the Wind" at the same time.
I give this movie a 6 for Cary's personal magnetism, even in a stifling role like this one..
I had never heard of this movie, but I love movies from the 30s-40s, enjoy watching Cary Grant, and find American Revolutionary history fascinating.I give the producer credit for shooting exteriors on location -- but Cedric Hardwicke provided the only other pleasant surprise.(An over-the-top performance should be expected from a character named Fleetwood.)Cary Grant was just horrible; as others have noted, he adopted a goofy accent and seemed to be on amphetamines; and he never should have been made to wear buckskins and a ponytail, for goodness sake.
Sad that so many Cary Grant fans had their bubbles burst.
Grant could not have played his dapper persona while being from the Shenandoah Valley, especially in scenes with those crude and embarrassing frontiersmen and women.
One reviewer was critical of the director because the irony of Matthew Howard turning into a kind of Fleetwood Peyton was not portrayed.
But from early on in the movie, Tom Jefferson and Matt Howard thought it would be grand to develop the 1,000 acres in the Shenandoah Valley into a PLANTATION.
But Matt Howard didn't want to run at first, and when pressed said he would go if only to improve the roads and bridges and repeal the Stamp Act. He had no thoughts of aristocratic power unlike Fleetwood.Anyone see John Wayne in The Searchers?
I don't know what Cary Grant felt later about the film, but the film is essential now both as a political debate and a period piece.
Read the reviews at the Cary Grant web site: some of them written when the film came out in 1940 when we were allied with England in WW II.
Think about today's political climate, what with tea-partyers (the original Boston Tea party was referred to in the movie) and the current debate on levels of taxation and government controls (the Stamp Act was also a plot element in the movie).
Also, in case there's some doubt, Cary Grant wasn't always perfectly elegant.
"In a string of films he had supporting parts, including the heavy who nearly destroys Marlene Dietrich in Blonde Venus 1932) and Mae West's foil in She Done Him Wrong (1933) and I'm No Angel (1933)." Later in his career, after he had established his elegant style, he played in a couple less-than-exemplary roles, costarring with Jayne Mansfield in 1957 in "Kiss Them for Me" and playing a heartless swindler and a Cockney in 1943 in "Mr Lucky." I don't see why he can't play against type in this patriotic film.
Maybe he was still trying to establish his bona fides as an actor, or he could have believed in the principles of Matt Howard.
In support of the second theory, Cary Grant became an American citizen on June 26th, 1942.
I liked this movie despite the dreadful miscasting of Cary Grant.
Cary looked like he had been on amphetamines, jerky and hyperactive.
Grant realized that his performance was woefully bad and vowed never to do a costume drama again.
Cedric Hardewick, Richard Carlson and Martha Scott were competent in their roles in HOV which contrasted Grant's fiasco..
And even when they came on, they hit their stride later in the movie.The funny thing for me was that the best performances often came from the child actors.
The adult Jefferson was good in general, but did not hold a candle to the portrayal in the HBO John Adams series.Cary Grant is fun to watch.
His accent never quite sounds as rough as it should, but his gruff mannerisms make him convincing enough, so long as you're willing to suspend disbelief.The best element for me was how Cary Grant's character was developed in relation to his family..
Was not that great for a Cary Grant movie.
He is the guy who hands Cary the bottle of booze in the house, then is shown again when Martha Scott comes out of her room and sits at the table.
Cary was too hyper in this film.
All of Cary's other movies more than make-up for this one.
A terrible Cary Grant movie?.
Such a thing as outright disastrous Cary Grant exists in the form of the emotionally unstirring catastrophic period piece which engages top talent for all the wrong reasons.The screenplay remains the biggest fault of the movie, due to mindless indulgence of the writer about Virginian high society and love that comes in the most rigid form of unconvincing passion.
Cary Grant would have been better off fronting his appearance under a different name.
He looks ridiculous in a long haired wig, and with an unconvincing accent, seems an embarrassment amongst the most elegant folk in Virginia.After a succession of brilliant Cary Grant projects at Columbia, the dated ill fate and dull proceeding of this movie makes one wonder at the film's very existence.The best movie of *1927*.
Unbelievable Cary Grant Film.
Never realized that Cary Grant appeared in a film which concerned the American Revolution or that he even was willing to give his talents to this type of film.
I later found out that Cary Grant did not like this role he was playing in the film and made it a point to never appear in such a film.
Many people felt that Cary Grant was not suited for his role in this film and felt he should have turned down this role.
There are great supporting actors in this film which are Martha Scott, (Jane Peyton Howard) and Cary Grant, ( Matt Howard) and also Cedric Hardwicke,(Fleetwood Peyton).
This film deals with the Boston Tea Party which means that the British were enacting a tax on the people of Boston and the people of Boston were very rebellious against such legislation and made the statement, "No Representation with out Taxitation." You must agree this is not really a Cary Grant film, he was placed in a film which he should never had appear in..
We really found this an interesting movie, since we lived near Williamsburg, and are familiar with Virginia history, especially in the Albermarle County and Wiliamsburg/James River areas.
And the story was a good encapsulation of some early American social and political currents.
Pedestrian Revolutionary War drama with a miscast Cary Grant as a young Virginian stirred to rebellion while falling in love with Loyalist Martha Scott.
Also Grant's role doesn't really play to his strengths.
The rest of the cast is decent, with Richard Carlson playing a likable Thomas Jefferson and Cedric Hardwicke being Cedric Hardwicke, which is always great to watch.
Obviously Cary Grant completists will need to see it and maybe Revolutionary War buffs might like it, too..
I am a big Cary Grant fan and have seen many of his films but this is a terrible performance, unlike any of his other films.
However, it must be said that the director shares the blame and should have done a better job of directing Mr. Grant in this movie.
Overall, it is worth watching to get a sense of the events leading up to the Revolutionary War and the war itself and to see Mr. Grant in a role uncharacteristic of his usual fine acting..
In his intro, Robert Osborne said this was one of Cary Grant's least-known films.
A title card then moves us forward 12 years, meaning Matthew should be 21 or 22, but is played by the 36 year old Grant!
The irony that Matthew becomes the very kind of man he despises Fleetwood for being - landowner (and slave owner), politician, member of the upper-crust - is completely lost on Z-Grade director Frank Lloyd.As if he knew he was horribly miscast, Grant tears through this like he's on crack!
Underrated film...superb performance by Martha Scott.
I like to think of this film as Cary Grant forgetting the Cary Grant he was turning himself into...and just acting.
Beginning with "Topper", he was developing the Cary Grant persona, and it showed up in 8 films before this one.
He plays the character Matt Howard.I'm surprised when I see what a low rating this film gets by IMDb reviewers.
I think the reason, perhaps, is that if you are expecting the suave and sophisticated Cary Grant, well, you're going to be disappointed.
Instead, Grant portrays a rather "backwoods" oaf, who does mature as time passes.My main gripe about the film is that it takes place in Virginia (where I lived for over two decades), but many of the exterior shots were clearly photographed in the American west (where I now live) -- Santa Cruz, to be specific.
Sort of like in the movie I watched last week that included all those mountains...in Florida.
This is a powerful film, and overall it does a pretty good job of telling its story within accurate history of the American Revolution.Grant does somewhat overplay his role...but I assume that to be the fault of the director, Frank Lloyd.
Sir Cedric Hardwicke is also excellent as the embittered pro-British father of Martha Scott.
Other roles are also played well, though none of the supporting actors stands out, except for Richard Carlson, who does a nice turn as Thomas Jefferson.I, too, prefer the suave sophisticated Cary Grant, so this film will not make it to my DVD shelf.
115½ minutes.Australian release title: The TREE OF LIBERTY.SYNOPSIS: Backwoods surveyor marries an aristocratic Virginian.COMMENT: How my grandfather would have enjoyed this film!
Admittedly, Cary Grant is atrociously miscast and feels he is obliged to render every line as loudly as possible in a curious mixture of Irish and Cockney accents.
His co-star Martha Scott is also not wholly enjoyable, being both too stiff and too dull for the albeit conventional role of vivacious, lively heiress.Some of the support players are equally maladroit, particularly Richard Carlson's Tom Jefferson, and Irving Bacon, almost unrecognizably miscast as an Olin Howland-type backwoodsman.Nonetheless, ranged on the credit side of the acting ledger, Sir Cedric Hardwicke gives an unforgettably powerful performance as the embittered Fleetwood, one of his most memorable studies in well-rounded heavies.
He sang and danced as part of the Pink Pierrots (French clowns) in the Katharine Hepburn movie Sylvia Scarlett (1935) (see my review about that movie).Cary hums some music in the bathtub, in The Howards of Virginia.
Maybe he just wanted to get a little fun out of this sometimes very serious story.This movie was five years after Sylvia Scarlett.
It was 1940, the year of Cary's The Philadelphia Story (again with Katharine Hepburn).
If you want to see dapper Cary, see Philadelphia Story.Cary was absolutely dapper in The Howards of Virginia.
When Tom Jefferson cleaned him up and put him into a proper Virginia planter's suit of clothing, Cary looked absolutely fabulous.
You people my age may have thought grown-up Tom was familiar: Richard Carlson was on TV in the 1950s in the program I Led Three Lives.Previous to The Howards of Virginia, Cary Grant had made some movies with that fabulous Mae West.
She says, "I'll tell you your fortune." Mae West said she discovered Cary Grant.Cary made a good frontiersman.
To act against Cary's publicly-perceived suave persona in other films, this is what an actor has to do.
He/she has to play against type, if the role calls for it.
It rounds out an actor's portfolio.If you want to see Cary Grant in another unusual costume, see Bringing Up Baby (1938), again with, who else? |
tt2027128 | Justice League: Doom | The Justice League, with Cyborg's assistance, stop the Royal Flush Gang's attempted robbery of a diamond vault using complex technology that allows them to pass through solid objects. Vandal Savage plots to start a new civilization by exterminating part of the population; he gave the technology to the Gang for testing. Savage hires Mirror Master to hack into the Batcomputer and steal contingency plans devised by Batman to incapacitate his League teammates, in case they go rogue. Savage assembles Mirror Master, Bane, Cheetah, Ma'alefa'ak, Star Sapphire, and Metallo, who all have personal vendettas against the heroes and pays them to simultaneously attack using the plans, altered to be lethal. When the supervillains agree, he welcomes them to the Legion of Doom.
Batman, as Bruce Wayne, is informed by Alfred Pennyworth that the bodies of Thomas and Martha Wayne have been exhumed and are missing. At their graves, Bruce is ambushed by Bane, who renders Bruce unconscious. Bruce is buried alive in his father's coffin; he is left a tape recorder with Bane's message to taunt him, which motivates him to break out. He realizes the League has been attacked using his contingency plans, which were constructed from studying physical and psychological weaknesses. Batman and Cyborg save them one by one.
Wonder Woman is attacked by Cheetah with a scratch that sends nanomachines into her bloodstream. The nanomachines cause her to believe everyone she sees is Cheetah's duplicate. Since she never stops fighting until her opponent is defeated, Wonder Woman will fight until she dies. Cyborg adjusts his sonic emitter to a frequency that neutralizes the nanites. Martian Manhunter (as John Jones) celebrates his birthday with his colleagues. He receives a drink from Ma'alefa'ak in disguise, which is laced with magnesium carbonate; being disruptive to Martian biology, the Manhunter struggles to maintain form while sweating out the magnesium. The Manhunter is set on fire, which will constantly burn. Batman provides aluminum oxide to neutralize the magnesium.
The Flash is lured into Mirror Master's trap, resulting in a bomb on his wrist. If he does nothing, tries to remove it or decreases in speed, the bomb will explode, killing everyone in a three-mile radius. Batman instructs him to run and vibrate through an entire iceberg in the Arctic—Flash just barely escapes the blast radius. Green Lantern is targeted by Star Sapphire using Scarecrow's will-undermining fear gas; after failing to save hostages' lives, she exploits his fears, convincing him that he doesn't deserve the power. Jordan renounces his ring and resigns his fate in the collapsing mine. Batman shows him the hostages were just androids. Jordan reestablishes his willpower, removing the effects and summons his ring again. Superman, as Clark Kent, is lured to the Daily Planet's roof by a former employee aiming to commit suicide. Superman believes to have talked him out of it, when he is shot with a Kryptonite bullet by Metallo in disguise. It is extracted by Cyborg, using a Kryptonite scalpel laser, and Manhunter, who pulls it out; Superman regains consciousness.
The League retreats to the Watchtower, where Batman reveals he was the real mastermind behind the plans; he also had one in place should the Batcomputer be hacked: a hidden tracing algorithm. The League track down the Legion of Doom and subdue them, but fail to prevent an apocalyptic cataclysm via solar flare. Using the Hall of Doom's technology, the League saves the Earth by phasing it so the flare can go through. Savage is later tried and found guilty for crimes against humanity and sentenced to life without parole. The League adds Cyborg to their roster and Superman calls for a vote on Batman's membership. Batman defends his plans and criticizes them for not understanding the potential danger of a rogue Justice League before quitting. Batman explains to Superman the original plans were meant to only immobilize. Superman asks if Batman had a plan to stop himself if he himself were to go rogue, and Batman tells him that the Justice League themselves is his plan. With his trust in Batman assured, Superman hands him the Kryptonite bullet and teleports him out of the Watchtower. | good versus evil, flashback | train | wikipedia | The premise of the story is both simple and yet intriguing- Batman has secretly devised stratagems to neutralize his fellow Justice League members in case any of them turned rogue.
When his files are stolen however and used against his teammates, the League is forced to confront the fact that the architect of their near-destruction is in fact one of their own...It's a compelling story which has serious ethical dimensions to it as well (not to mention some great action and character moments!)While 'JL:Doom' is a loose adaptation, it remains faithful to the spirit of the story.
The Legion of Doom was a great nod to the old Superfriends cartoons (kudos to them for including an arch-nemesis to Martian Manhunter, who normally gets left it in this particular area!) I was also glad they found a way to include Cyborg without making it seem contrived or making him feel like a token minority character!
If there is one gripe I had, its that I felt there could have been more discussion of the ethical implications of Batman's actions among the League, but I guess that wouldn't have fit within the alloted run- time...On the whole, a great addition to the animated DTV's stable...looking forward to the next one!.
This wasn't an exception as it was all based on the contingency plan of the Bat falling into the wrong hands.Mark Waid-penned JLA story arc, "JLA: Tower of Babel" where the Legion of Doom is formed to eliminate the Justice League using protocols created by Batman to take down the group should any member ever go rogue.The movie was adapted and written by Dwayne McDuffie whose notably works include Ben 10, Static Shock, writing and producing the animated series Justice League Unlimited.
Dwayne wrote this adaptation shortly before his death in February 2011 at age 48.Directed by Lauren Montgomery, who also directed the animated version of Wonder woman, Green Lantern: First Flight, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse.Lauren took the Dwayne adaptation of tower of Babel, and brought about JL: Doom, which I have to add is one of the best, Direct to DVD movies DC has released (behind Superman and Batman: Public Enemies of course).But what else can I add without spoiling the movie for you, let's see
..Voice acting:The voice actors were from the old series (Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited and Green Lantern: Emerald Knights) all reprising their roles, from Tim Daly as Superman, Kevin Conroy as Batman, Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman but to say a few, this made you feel at home and comfortable.
By DC using former voice actors you don't feel alienated by any of the characters.I believe DC went all the way to make sure the movie was perfect.Phil Morris played the voice acting for the villain Vandal Savage, who was tired of the world and her ways and decided to end it all, and be the ruler of what is remaining.
But nobody counted on the last minute intervention by Cyborg, an up and coming superhero most would remember as one of the Teen Titans.Loosely adapted from Mark Waid's "JLA: Tower of Babel" story arc, JUSTICE LEAGUE: DOOM really gets into the minds of our favorite heroes.
Voice acting is awesome as usual and as always it is a treat to hear most of the cast of the Justice League animated series in their respective roles again.
So memorable are the performances of Kevin Conroy, Tim Daley, Susan Eisenberg, Carl Lumbly and Michael rosenbaum that whenever most people open a comic book, it is their voices they hear as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter and Flash respectively.
Many of Cyborg's robot parts, particularly his face plating, looks like face paint.One gets the feeling that most time and effort went into this year's BATMAN YEAR ONE and JUSTICE LEAGUE: DOOM was produced merely as a "side project" since they had Dwayne McDuffie's exceptional script lying around.
Anyhow, should Warner Premiere decide to create an entire Justice League movie series, pumping just a bit more money and effort into the animation production would help things a lot.
Kids will enjoy it, adults might if they shut their brain off a bit.Andrea Romano once again assembles the A-list of voice actors - most of the original Justice League cast is back, and for that I'm thankful - the exception is a Nathan Fillion voiced Green Lantern (probably trying to tie in with the recent movie spin offs).
Also, Cyborg is added to the mix (perhaps to promote his new role in the comic?).The character design is solid, unlike some of the other DCAU entries (I'm looking at you Death of Superman).Unless I am mistaken, they reused the theme from "Crisis on 2 Earths" for the opening sequence - this is kind of a quibble, as I'd say it's the most epic theme ever written for any of the DCAU titles - but seriously, give this composer more work, he is awesome.I hesitate to call this "bad" but the story is a bit "meh".
It seems a bit dumb to make these DCAU titles PG 13, having the villains threaten and kill people occasionally, but have their evil plans strictly G rated.I'm not sure if it's a function of the story-boarding or direction, but the scenes are kind of workhorse, lacking the incredible dynamism demonstrated in "Shazam and Superman: Return of Black Adam" and the accompanying shorts, directed by Joaquim Dos Santos It would be nice if these animated "movies" felt more like movies - bigger, better action than we get from typical animated TV shows.
Bruce Timm and company set a pretty high bar years ago, if all else fails, get Dos Santos to consult.While this is not horrible, a similar story was done before in the Justice League TV show, and I would say it was done better in Season 1, "Injustice for All" and especially in Season 2, "Secret Society", which I think was also written better, with better action.Overall, it's great to hear the original (perfect) voice cast back, just wish this entry brought a little more "boom" with them..
Not a spectacular Justice League animated movie, but good enough.
It's one of the really good Justice League movie despite few plot-holes and corny bits then and there.
But overall, it's a fairly entertaining and well designed animated Justice League movie.
I don't think I've read much featuring the Justice League together as an entity and when I started watching I was a little bit put off that it included characters that I didn't particularly care for (mostly, in fairness, because I've never given them much of a chance, don't know them or have decided that based on rubbish film versions of them).Once it got going though the film was actually pretty enjoyable.
The voice cast are strong throughout – Conroy as ever but I really enjoyed Fillion, Lumby, Rosenbaum, Black, Blackthorne and many others in there, not only are they good nods to other things but they are good here.This is still an animated superhero film though and as such it is bright, full of action and fairly simple in terms of plotting and delivery; it does work though and I found it entertaining and enjoyable throughout the short running time..
Justice League: Doom has one of the best storylines of any DC animated movie I've seen thus far and that makes it stand out from the rest.It tells the story of a congregation of super villians who mastermind a plan to steal Batmans files on the Justice League in order to pick them off.
Those files being the secret ones he holds on each members weaknesses and his plans to take them down should they turn bad.With the excellent Kevin Conroy as Batman, Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern and the sultry voice of Claudia Black as Cheetah the cast is top notch.The story plays out well though the finale returns to the usual tropes.
This could have benefitted from additional time, perhaps even up to another 30 minutes.Regardless this is a good effort though I still think the DC animated movies should become a "Universe" like the live action and retain a bit of consistency.The Good:Fantastic voice talentExcellent plotThe Bad:Why does Bane look so weird in these things?Things I Learnt From This Movie:Explosions kill but leave no marks, even when it's practically going off in a persons faceI still can't take the name Legion Of Doom seriouslyI agree with Batman.
best Justice League animated movie.
Vandal Savage steals Batman's files on his Justice League teammates and uses them to learn the weaknesses of the heroes.
Entertaining animated DC movie adapted from the comic book story "Tower of Babel." Some things were changed, of course.
what an excellent justice league film from the DC animated original movies series with batman superman wonder women green lantern mars ion man hunter and cyborg with lots of action and awesome story.the story is about after the justice league battled the royal flush gang batman returns to the bat cave and vandal savage sent mirror master to receive information from the bat computer and learns all of the justice league members weaknesses and uses them against the justice league and the villains are bane vandal savage like i said as well as mirror master metal lo starshaphier cheetah and the other one cant spell overall this has load's of action and is an awesome movie for all the DC fans 10/10.
Superman is the omni-altruist, Wonder Woman is woman warrior, Cyborg as genius bruiser, Flash is cocksure nice guy, Green Lantern is the same with far fewer qualms, Vandal Savage wants power, and any villain can be characterized as "personal vendetta and rhymes with 'glass hole'." There are a couple bright points.
All in all, Justice League: Doom may not be perfect and there are better animated superhero movies out there, but it is still worth seeing.
These days even kids have high standards.Plot: When Batman and the rest of the Justice League stop The Royal Flush Gang from a robbery, they find out with the help of Cyborg that the Gang has been using a technology to walk through walls, and upon interrogation, realize that its not the Gang's technology.
Pretty awesome Justice League flick with good action and a wonderful story.
Savage captures information about the JLA members' weaknesses and creates a team he calls the Legion of Doom consisting of all their foes like Metallo, Cheetah, Bane, Mirror Master, Star Sapphire etc.
This has to one of the best DC Stories of all time as it shows the Justice League has faults.Here we have the ultimate bad guy Vandal Savage recruiting his crime syndicate to help him with his plan to defeat the Justice League so he can reign over the human race.
So who will help him to defeat the superhero team?None other than Batman.The story helps to give depth to The Batman as he's devised strategies to render the other members of the Justice League powerless, should they end up on the dark side, this is how far ahead the Dark Knight thinks.The story is strong as DeWayne McDuffie has done a great adaptation of the comic book and Lauren Montgomery directs it just as strongly, keeping the pace fast and entertaining while allowing the characters to shine.To be honest, there's not much wrong with this film.
I love the fact they decided to go with the known voices of Kevin Conroy as Batman, Tim Daly as Superman, Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern, who are the voices of the main characters who had their own series, then the rest of the voices are the actors from the original Justice League series; Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman, Carl Lumbly as The Martian Manhunter, and Michael Rosenbaum as The Flash, so right from the get-go you're in familiar territory.
This is one of the reasons the movie is so good.If you like the DC Superhero's then this is one film you need to watch..
Justice League: Doom is one of the best comic book adaptations there is.
I watch this movie whenever I have free time and I'm always entertained.The way the plot unfolds is great and is an awesome story from the comics and the movie does and excellent job transferring it to the film.
How could you not enjoy seeing your favorite DC heroes like Batman, Superman, Wonder-Woman, The Flash and others all joining forces into one film?
The Plot centers around the Justice League as they soon face off against The Legion Of Doom lead by Vandal Savage.What is impressive about this film is the story that is better enjoy when you watch the film because there are a lot of plot twists and unexpected moments while you watch it.
And the voices were from the original justice league (other than Superman which is Tim Daly in this, and I think George Newbern sounds like Superman would).
Watched One Of My Favorite Direct to Video Animated Films Justice League Doom amazing voice Performances from Kevin Conroy(Arkham City) as Batman, Tim Daly(Superman:The Animated Series) as Superman also starring Michael Rosenbaum(Smallville) as The Flash, Carl Lumbly(Alias) as Martian Manhunter , Nathan Fillion(Firefly) as Green Lantern, Susan Eisenberg(Star Wars:The Force Unleashed) as Wonder Woman , Bumper Robinson(Transformers Prime) as Cyborg , ,Grey DeLeslie() as Lois Lane ,Claudia Black(Farscape) as Cheetah, Olivia D'abo(Star Wars:The Clone Wars) as Star Sapphire, Carlos Alazraqui(Justice League:Crisis On Two Earths), Paul Blackthorne(Arrow) as Metallo, Alexis Desinof(How I Met Your Mother) as Mirror Master and Phil Morris(Justice League) as Vandal Savage The films main villain.
The film is Exciting and has high octane action and also really amps after Batman's Modified Contingency Plans comes into also it shows all of The Justice League at The Most vulnerable moments which in turn you get attached to all of them also brings out the best and worst in them and reveals some info on Why Batman Did/ Didn't do it.
Amazing score by Christopher Drake(Batman Year One), Screenplay By The Late Dwayne McDuffie(Justice League Unlimited) Direction by Lauren Montgomery(Batman/Superman:Apocalypse) Definitely The Best DC Animated Film of all time .
PROS 1.Voice Acting 2.Emotional resonance 3.The Villains 4.Cyborg CONS 1.The plans 2.How they 'saved the day' 3.You need to know the back stories.**Read on for more details and SPOILERS **First of, this is an adaption of Mark Waid's famous 'Tower of Babel' storyline in which Ra's Al Ghul, Extremist nature lover, desires to destroy humanity or at least most of it so that the world is a better place.In this movie, Vandal Savage( I think they wanted this to tie in with Young Justice where he is the primary antagonist for season 1) wan't to destroy 2/3rds of humanity with a solar flare so he can rule over the rest.
PROS 1.Yes, they're back.Conroy is THE BATMAN and Fillion has made Hal Jordan his own.The rest are good enough but the Flash sound more like wally than Barry.Overall,it's great.The villains are also done well with special mention to Bane and Savage.
Some seemed Savage's and some seemed like the respective villains(You demoralize Green Lantern and bury Batman?YOU DON'T KILL THEM).Real confusing.
For the rest, read the comics and then watch.In all, a good solid DC movie that could have been better, given the great source material..
The villains could have killed the whole league and i would have liked to see the plans done better.
The film is full of some great fight scenes and a bit of over the top goodness.Back are the voice actors from the original DC Justice League series, Kevin Conroy as Batman, Tim Daly as Superman, with Nathan Fillion playing the Hal Jordan Green Lantern.
The original plot of the story was that Ra's Al Ghul would steal information from Batman's computer that could destroy the Justice League.
I'd seen it one more time in 7th grade and then forgot about it for a while.I don't really remember anything about the movie other than that Vandal Savage wanted to destroy the world with a rocket and so he enlisted the Legion of Doom (Cheetah, Metallo, Star Sapphire, Mirror Master, and Ma'alefa'ak) to hack into Batman's contingency plans in case the JLA went bad.
A good Justice League story for young and old!.
Me being a DC Animated Universe fan, I always like a good Justice League vs.
Of course the voice acting of Kevin Conroy always helps to bring an animated Batman to life although I thougt it was not one of his best performences I have ever seen.
Overall, the voice acting in this animated movie is proper, good 8 stars.
Fight scenes are mostly epic and during the story you do wonder how the Justice League is going to save the day this time?
Project Cademeus and the Justice Lords were way better than this movie but the only reason for that is because the show had enough time to properly bring each character, story arc and connection over a whole season together.
The rest of the voice actors except Metallo's were good.The story was good but I found it weird that most of the rouges of the Justice League were just primary villains like Metallo and Mirror Master.
This is loose adaptation of the story of the same name and I have to say this is one of the best Justice League story-lines around for it shows two things: one that when the villains can coordinate their attacks they are a force to be record with and the paranoia of Batman is a both his best weapon as he has a plan for everything and as it was shown here a weakness as it doesn't allow him to work well with others.As for the title of this review, well the team has faced a lot of crazy and dangerous event over the years ,but none of that was made with the precision of a surgeon to kill them.
What if the villains find the ways to kill each member of the Justice League? |
tt1587310 | Maleficent | Long ago, two rival kingdoms sat side by side: The human kingdom, ruled by a power-hungry king, and the Moors, a peaceful place inhabited by many gentle supernatural creatures. One resident of the Moors is Maleficent (Isobelle Molloy), a young fairy girl with enormous wings, who acts as a guardian for the other magical beings.Young Maleficent is alerted by three small fairies, Knotgrass (Imelda Staunton), Flittle (Lesley Manville),and Thistlewit (Juno Temple), that a thief has been apprehended by the forest guards at the borderline of the Moors. The thief, a human boy called Stefan, returns the jewel he had taken and explains that he is an orphan with no real home. Maleficent forgives him and the two strike up a friendship that lasts for several years. On Maleficent's sixteenth birthday, Stefan gives her "true love's kiss," but then abandons her to pursue his thirst for power in the King's inner circle.When Maleficent is grown (now Angelina Jolie), she is the primary guardian of the Moors. King Henry (Kenneth Cranham) leads his army to conquer the Moors for the human world, but Maleficent victoriously counter-attacks with her band of magical creatures. King Henry is mortally wounded in the battle, and makes known his hatred for the winged woman who defends the Moors. Having only a daughter for an heir, King Henry promises her hand and the throne to whichever of his men brings proof of Maleficent's death. Stefan (now Sharlto Copley), despite his relationship with Maleficent, takes on the task in hopes of becoming the new king.Stefan returns to the Moors at night and reconnects with Maleficent, who is happy and not at all suspicious to see her friend again. After giving her a drink to put her into a sound sleep, Stefan prepares to stab her to death. Unable to bring himself to kill the woman he once loved, he crudely removes her wings as she slumbers and then departs. When Maleficent awakens, weak with the pain from her severed wings and realizing she had been betrayed, she swears revenge against Stefan. On his deathbed, King Henry accepts the wings as proof of Maleficent's demise and awards the crown and his daughter's hand to Stefan.Having lost her ability to fly, Maleficent frees a captured raven in a nearby field and gives him the power to transform into a man. She recruits this raven-man, Diaval (Sam Riley) to serve as her "wings" in exchange for having saved his life. She declares herself ruler of the Moors, infusing her surroundings with dark magic and pitting herself once and for all against Stefan, ruler of the human kingdom.While spying on Stefan's palace, Diaval overhears the royal staff speak of the baby girl just born to the King and Queen. He hurries to relay the news to Maleficent, who sees an opportunity for revenge. She attends the child's christening ceremony uninvited and bestows a curse on the princess: Before the sun sets on Princess Aurora's sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fall into an eternal deathlike slumber. As an added insult to Stefan, Maleficent snidely remarks that the only possible restoration to life is "true love's kiss." Stefan begs Maleficent to reconsider, even falling to his knees at her request, but she is too happy at having avenged her mistreatment to show mercy. After leaving the court in chaos, Maleficent causes a massive wall of thick-thorned trees to surround the Moors and keep humans at bay.Stefan orders all spinning wheels in the kingdom to be destroyed, and sends his infant daughter to be raised by the three fairies in the forest in hopes of avoiding the curse. Knotgrass, Flittle, and Thistlewit are easily distracted and have difficulty supervising Aurora as she grows, but the princess is kept safe by Maleficent's curse, which rules that she must stay alive until her sixteenth birthday. Maleficent and Diaval keep a semi-distant watch over Aurora throughout her childhood, coming in contact a few times but never revealing her identity. Aurora grows into a pretty teenager (Elle Fanning), with no inkling of her royal roots or Maleficent's curse.As Aurora's sixteenth birthday nears, Stefan falls deeper into paranoia. The Queen is dying, and he knows Maleficent will return on the day the curse is set to culminate. He keeps her severed wings in a glass cabinet in an isolated wing of the palace. He becomes more and more detached from reality, having long rambling "conversations" with the wings and is deaf to any subject other than Maleficent. He sends his men to hunt her down before Aurora's birthday.Maleficent begins to admit that her hatred for Stefan does not extend to Aurora. Emerging from the blind rage she felt when the princess was a baby, Maleficent now sees that Aurora is a good, innocent person undeserving of such a harsh fate. Feeling guilty, she puts a temporary sleeping spell on the girl and transports her into the Moors. When Aurora wakes, she is enchanted by the beautiful fairy kingdom and shows no fear when Maleficent makes her presence known. Aurora happily explains that she recognizes Maleficent from several incidents in her childhood and believes Maleficent is her fairy godmother. Without explaining the truth, Maleficent spends the evening getting to know the victim of her own curse. After returning Aurora to her cottage home to sleep, Maleficent attempts to retract the curse, but she had made it too powerful to be undone. Diaval reminds her that true love's kiss can still break the spell, but Maleficent admits she added it as a false hope because she believed it did not exist.On the eve of Aurora's fateful birthday, Maleficent speaks with her about an evil that she is unable to protect her from. Aurora remains optimistic, and announces her wish to live in the Moors with her "fairy godmother." While preparing to break the news to her "aunties" (the three fairies who raised her), Aurora encounters Prince Phillip (Brenton Thwaites), who asks her for directions, though both are awkwardly stunned by their mutual attraction. After their brief meeting, Aurora delivers her news to the fairies, who, in their shock, let slip Aurora's true parentage and the details of Maleficent's curse. Horrified, Aurora rushes to the Moors to confront Maleficent, who sadly admits the truth. Aurora, now frightened and untrusting, returns to the human kingdom.That night, Princess Aurora is finally returned to her father. They share a brief emotional reunion before Stefan orders his daughter locked away for her own protection. Back in the Moors, Maleficent prepares a last-ditch attempt to stop the curse. She and Diaval journey toward the palace and encounter Prince Phillip, who remembers meeting Aurora and is recruited to provide "true love's kiss" to save her. Maleficent casts a sleeping charm on the rather confused prince, and whisks him away through the forest, hoping to get to Aurora before the curse unfolds.As Aurora's birthday progresses and night begins to fall, she feels a strange sensation in her finger and hears a eerie voice calling her name. In a trancelike state, Aurora follows the disembodied voice through the palace until she discovers a hidden room containing piles of broken and burnt spinning wheels. She approaches a sharp spindle and touches it, drawing blood. A moment later, she sinks to the floor in a dead sleep.Aurora is carried back to her chambers and laid on the bed. Stefan is enraged, blaming the three fairies for failing to protect his daughter. Maleficent and Diaval manage to infiltrate the palace with the unconscious Prince Phillip, who is woken at the door of Aurora's bedroom. The three fairies, guarding the sleeping princess, encourage Phillip to try and wake Aurora with true love's kiss, but since the two are not yet in love, the effort fails. Heartbroken, Maleficent approaches Aurora's bed and apologizes for her actions, promising to protect her as she sleeps. Maleficent kisses Aurora on the forehead and is both shocked and elated to find that the spell had been broken through the power of her own maternal love for the princess. Aurora realizes how much Maleficent cares for her, and begins to trust her again.A guard reports to Stefan that Maleficent was spotted in the castle. The royal guards ambush her and attack when she leaves Aurora's room. Maleficent orders Aurora to run to safety before transforming Diaval into an enormous dragon and beginning her showdown against Stefan.While searching for something to aid Maleficent, Aurora discovers the severed wings in the class cupboard. The wings, sensing the presence of their mistress, being to flap violently until Aurora frees them. The wings fly to Maleficent and re-attach themselves to her moments before Stefan delivers a fatal blow. Maleficent rises above her attackers, but Stefan loops a chain around her leg and clings to it as she pulls him out a window and onto one of the palace towers. Maleficent attempts to end the fight without any fatalities, but Stefan attacks her once more, sending them both plummeting off the tower. Maleficent takes flight and Stefan falls to his death, a victim of his own unrelenting desire for power and revenge.Maleficent soon undoes the dark magic in the Moors, restoring its former light and beauty. The Moors and the human kingdom are now united, and Aurora is crowned Queen. Prince Phillip and Aurora continue their romance, and Maleficent, now free from the chains of her vengeful thoughts, lives happily among the peaceful creatures of the Moors. | whimsical, revenge, fantasy | train | imdb | null |
tt2333804 | The Zero Theorem | Qohen Leth, an eccentric programmer who refers to himself in the plural, is assigned to "crunch entities" for a company named Mancom. Finding himself suffering existential angst, Qohen constantly waits for a phone call, hoping that it might bring him happiness or the answers he seeks. When Quohen requests a "disability" evaluation, three company doctors determine that he is physically healthy, but request he have therapy from Dr Shrink-ROM, an AI therapist designed to provide mental evaluation. Wanting to meet with "Management", Qohen attends a party held by his supervisor, Joby. Stumbling into an empty room, Qohen finds Management and requests to work from home, as he would be more productive and would no longer risk missing his call; Management simply notes he finds Qohen "quite insane".
Attempting to leave the party, Qohen is pressed into staying by Joby and, when Qohen starts choking on an olive, he is rescued by partygoer Bainsley. His request granted by Management, Qohen is informed he is to start working from home, and is shown a massive supercomputer dubbed "The Neural Net Mancive"; containing all of the entities crunched by workers, Qohen is required to order its data to solve the "Zero Theorem", a mysterious mathematical formula. Spending months as a hermit whilst working on the program, he is diagnosed with numerous conditions by Shrink-ROM, and begins suffering nightmares involving a black hole.
Frustrated with his work, Qohen smashes his computer with a hammer, and is soon visited by Bainsley. Qohen confides in Bainsley that he believes he accidentally hung up a call that would have given him the meaning of life, and has desperately been waiting for a call-back ever since. Qohen is then visited by Bob, the teenage son of Management. Bob repairs his computer, reveals Management is spying on him, and suggests that Bainsley is only interested in Qohen because she is paid to be. After Qohen insists he will cease working on the Zero Theorem, Bob promises to get him his call if he continues. Having received a VR suit from Bainsley, Qohen interacts with her through virtual reality, which makes them both appear on a beach together. When Qohen asks if the sun in the horizon ever sets, Bainsley responds it is not programmed to do so. They soon kiss one another.
Visited again by Bob, Qohen, to his distaste, learns the Zero Theorem aims to prove life is meaningless through the Big Crunch theory. Digitally connecting to Bainsley again, Qohen is comforted by her, but when he denounces Management and suggests eloping together, she forcefully disconnects, damaging Qohen's suit. When Bob then takes his suit to repair it, Qohen connects to Bainsley unannounced, only to discover she is a webcam stripper. Bob returns with Qohen's suit, now repaired, and reveals his phone call is only a delusion, and admits his Dr. Shrink-ROM was only designed to identify his pathology rather than treat it. Qohen is visited by Bainsley, who apologizes for deceiving him, but claims she truly fell in love with him; despite Bainsley's offer to elope, which is encouraged by Bob, Qohen turns her down.
Qohen, discussing his problems with Bob, discovers Bob's health is radically declining. Caring for Bob, Qohen finds a hidden camera in his bathroom mirror, and begins to uncover and smash Management's cameras. Despite barricading his home, Management employees break in and take Bob away. Visited by Joby, Qohen is berated by him, as his actions got Joby fired. Qohen dons his now "repaired" virtual reality suit and connects to his computer, but is nearly electrocuted.
Appearing at the Neural Net Mancive, Qohen is greeted by an image of Management, who notes that Bob is hospitalized because of his declining health, which is due to a chronic illness. Management explains Qohen is now part of the Neural Net and, when Qohen asks questions about the meaning of his life, Management explains that there is none, and that he was never a higher power able to grant Qohen his call. Management explains that while the Zero Theorem would prove that everything is meaningless, the entire purpose of Mancom in "crunching entities" was to bring order to disorder, finding meaning in some form that he could sell. Management explains he chose Qohen to solve the Zero Theorem as he was its effective antithesis, since he had faith in finding meaning, waiting endlessly for his phone call. Management then disappears, apologizing as he no longer needs Qohen; angered, Qohen smashes the Neural Net, collapsing it and revealing a black hole inside. Smiling, Qohen jumps into it, only to appear back on the virtual beach. Resigned, calm and alone, Qohen stands in front of the sea and, after interacting with the sun, watches the sunset he causes. As the credits roll, Bainsley is heard calling Qohen, hinting that either Bainsley has joined him or he has conjured her up in his virtual world. | absurd, psychedelic, philosophical | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0115964 | Crash | Today
The film begins with commentary by passenger Detective Graham Waters (Don Cheadle), who has suffered a car accident with his partner Ria (Jennifer Esposito). He mentions that the citizens of Los Angeles have lost their "sense of touch." Ria and the driver of the other car, Kim Lee, exchange racially charged insults. When Waters exits the car, he arrives at a police investigation crime scene concerning the discovery of a "dead kid".
Yesterday
While purchasing a revolver at a gun store, Farhad (Shaun Toub), a Persian shop owner, and his daughter Dorri (Bahar Soomekh), argue in Farsi over what box of bullets they should buy. The gun store owner grows impatient and degrades the two of them by referring to Farhad as "Osama". Farhad asserts that he is an American citizen, but the store owner continues exchanging racially stereotypical insults at Farhad and has the security guard escort him out of the store. Dorri demands the store owner to give her the gun or give her back the money. After the store owner gives the gun to Dorri, she asks for "the ones in the red box". The store owner asks why, but Dorri does not answer and insists on buying that particular box. In another part of town, two black men, Anthony (Ludacris) and Peter (Larenz Tate), argue over racial stereotyping of African Americans after Jean Cabot (Sandra Bullock), the wife of the local district attorney Rick Cabot (Brendan Fraser), walks in another direction while fearfully staring at them.
Anthony and Peter carjack the married couple as they are about to enter their Lincoln Navigator. Later, at the Cabot house, Hispanic locksmith Daniel Ruiz (Michael Peña) is changing their locks when Jean notices his tattoos. She loudly complains to Rick about having been carjacked and now having to endure a Hispanic man changing their locks, feeling he will give copies of the keys to "his gang banger friends". Having overheard this, Daniel leaves the keys on Jean's kitchen counter. Detectives Waters and Ria arrive at the scene of a shooting between two drivers. The surviving shooter is a white male, identified as an undercover police officer. The dead shooter, a black male, is revealed also to be an undercover police officer. There is a large amount of cash found in the black officer's trunk. This is the third time the white officer has shot and killed a black man.
LAPD officer John Ryan (Matt Dillon) calls an HMO on behalf of his father and has an argument with a representative named Shaniqua Johnson (Loretta Devine). He then gets into the squad car with his partner Tom Hansen (Ryan Philippe) and sees a car passenger performing fellatio on the driver of a moving vehicle. They pull over the Navigator similar to the one carjacked earlier, despite discrepancies in the descriptions. They order the couple, television director Cameron Thayer (Terrence Howard) and his wife Christine (Thandie Newton), to exit. Cameron is cooperative, but Christine is argumentative. This annoys Ryan, who manually molests Christine under the pretense of administering a pat-down. Intimidated, Cameron says nothing. The couple is released without a citation. Once home, Christine becomes enraged that Cameron did nothing while she was being violated. Cameron insists that what he did was correct and storms out.
Arriving home from work long after dark, Daniel finds his young daughter, Lara (Ashlyn Sanchez), hiding under her bed after hearing a gunshot outside. To comfort her, Daniel gives her an "invisible impenetrable cloak", which makes her feel safe enough to fall asleep in her bed. In the carjacked SUV, Anthony and Peter, arguing and distracted, hit a Korean man while passing a parked white van. They argue about what to do with him, finally dumping him in front of a hospital and driving away. Due to the blood in the vehicle, they are unable to receive payment for the carjacking. The next day, at the Los Angeles Police Department station, Hansen talks to his superior, Lt. Dixon (Keith David), about switching partners. Dixon, a black man, claims that Hansen's charge of Ryan as a racist could cost both Hansen and Dixon their jobs. Dixon suggests a transfer to a one-man car and mockingly tells Hansen that he should justify it by claiming to have uncontrollable flatulence.
Ryan visits Shaniqua and apologizes for the argument. He explains that his father was previously diagnosed with a bladder infection, but he fears it may be prostate cancer. Shaniqua nearly calls security to escort Ryan out of her office when he proceeds to insult Shaniqua by calling her an affirmative action hire. When Ryan asks for his father to see a different doctor, Shaniqua denies the request and he storms out of her office in anger. Meanwhile, Daniel is seen replacing a lock at Farhad's shop and tries to explain to him that the door frame needs to be replaced. Farhad, whose English is limited, misunderstands and accuses Daniel of cheating him, which causes Daniel to leave.
Today
The next morning, Farhad discovers the store has been wrecked and defaced with graffiti. His insurance company does not cover the damage, calling it a case of negligence due to the defective door. When Farhad is told that his shop will be closing down, he vows revenge on Daniel. Detective Waters visits his mother (Beverly Todd), a hard drug abuser. She asks him to find his missing younger brother. He promises and takes notice that there is almost no food in the apartment as he is leaving. When he tries to present evidence in the shooting between undercover police officers, his superiors tell him not to reveal the cash in the black officer's trunk, saying that their work in crafting a non-racist image for the department will be undone.
Jean comes home and sees dishes in the dishwasher. She accosts her Hispanic maid Maria for not putting them in the cupboards. Ryan comes across a car accident and as he crawls into the overturned vehicle, he finds Christine trapped. Upon recognizing Ryan, Christine becomes hysterical, but gasoline is leaking from the tank and running downhill towards another wreck, which has already caught fire. He calms her down, and with the assistance of his partner and spectators, Ryan pulls Christine out just as her car bursts into flames. Anthony and Peter approach another Navigator which happens to be Cameron's. They only see Cameron driving after they open the door and are shocked to see that the driver is black (after Anthony previously bragged about not carjacking black people). Cameron is tired of being pushed around and resists. Anthony tells Peter to shoot Cameron, but Peter does not.
As police officers arrive, Cameron and Anthony both race for the car and jump in. Cameron drives away, with Anthony continuing to point a gun at him. A car chase ensues. Hansen is one of the police officers who has responded and recognizes Cameron's vehicle. Cameron drives into a dead end, puts Anthony's gun into his pocket, and gets out of the car, all the while yelling insults at the officers. Just before he pulls out the gun, Hansen convinces him to stop aggravating the situation and to go home. Hansen vouches for Cameron, fending off the other officers, and promising to give him a "harsh" warning. Later, Cameron tells Anthony that as a black man he is embarrassed for him and drops Anthony off at a bus stop.
Farhad locates Daniel's house and waits in ambush. Just as Daniel's daughter Lara jumps into his arms, attempting to protect him with the "invisible cloak", Daniel's wife Elizabeth (Karina Arroyave) runs out the front door and watches in horror as Farhad shoots Lara. It takes the grief-stricken parents and Farhad a moment to realize that Lara is miraculously unharmed. The box of ammunition that Dorri had selected contained blanks. Farhad later tells his daughter that he believes the little girl was his guardian angel, preventing him from committing a terrible crime. Jean is complaining to someone she knows over the phone that she wakes up angry every day and does not know why. Immediately afterwards, she slips and falls down a flight of stairs, spraining her ankle. Jean phones Rick, telling him of her accident.
Peter, who is hitchhiking, is picked up by Hansen. Peter sees that Hansen has a small statuette of Saint Christopher like his own. He begins to laugh as he realizes that they have so much in common, but Hansen thinks that he is being laughed at. Hansen pulls over and tells Peter to get out if he wants to be "funny". Peter moves to pull the statuette out of his pocket in explanation, but Hansen believes he is pulling out a gun and mistakenly shoots and kills Peter. Hansen dumps the body in the bush beside a road and then torches his own car. Peter is revealed to be Waters' missing brother. Waters and his mother meet at the morgue, where Dorri is revealed to be a coroner and Waters promises to find who is responsible. Mrs. Waters blames her surviving son for his brother's death, claiming he was always too busy to look for Peter.
Anthony returns to the white van owned by the Korean man whom they had run over the night before. Finding the keys still hanging from the door lock, he drives the van away. The Korean man's wife Kim Lee arrives at the previously mentioned hospital looking for her husband, the man who was run over, named Choi Jin Gui. Conscious and coherent, he tells her to go and immediately cash a check that he has in his wallet. The check is most likely payment for the contents of the van. Anthony has driven the white van to a chop shop he frequents, and as they inspect the van, a number of Cambodian immigrants are discovered locked in the back of the van, revealing that Choi was involved in human trafficking. Anthony is offered $500 for each person in the van but refuses out of disgust. Whilst resting in her bed, Jean hugs Maria, saying she is the only true friend she has ever had and apologizes. Anthony drives to Chinatown and sets the Cambodian people free. As Anthony drives away, he passes a car crash, which turns out to involve Shaniqua. Shaniqua and the other driver get out and begin to exchange racial slurs. | mystery, violence, cult, insanity, psychedelic, sadist | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0113497 | Jumanji | The film begins in 1869 in the town of Brantford, New Hampshire. Two boys are seen breathlessly running with a box, which they proceed to bury in the woods.The film then cuts to a century later in Brantford. A young boy named Alan Parrish is chased by a gang of bullies and seeks refuge in his father's shoe factory. Alan encounters one of his father's employees named Carl, who has created a prototype sneaker which he feels is the future of Parrish Shoes. Alan carelessly places the prototype on a conveyor belt as he is discovered by his father. Sam Parrish chastises his son for being bullied and claims that Alan needs to stand up for himself. As Alan leaves a grinding noise is heard from one of the factory's machines. The conveyor belt upon which Alan placed the prototype sent the shoe into the machine, damaging the machine along with Carl's prototype. Sam demands to know who is responsible for the incident, and Carl takes the blame for Alan.Outside the factory, Alan is accosted by the bullies. One of them demands that Alan stay away from his girlfriend. Alan claims that he and the bully's girlfriend are 'just friends,' but this just leads to them beating up Alan and taking his bike. As Alan recovers, a strange drum beat catches his ear, and he is drawn to a construction site. Wedged in a section of ground is the box the two boys had buried a century before. Alan pulls it out, opens it up, and finds a wooden board game inside named, 'Jumanji.'That evening, Alan's parents are going out to an event. Alan's mother has told his father that there are multiple bullies and Alan's father tells Alan that he is proud of him for standing up to them as he did. However, Alan's face soon falls when his father proclaims they are sending him to a boarding school for boys. Alan grows indignant at being forced into doing something he doesn't want to do and he and his father part ways for the night in anger. Once Alan's parents leave, he attempts to pack a suitcase and run away from home.As Alan is about to walk out the front door, a knock is heard and he opens the door to find Sarah Whittle (the bully's girlfriend), who has come to return Alan's bike. The drum sounds are heard again and lead the two to the Jumanji board game. Alan sets the game up for the two of them to play but Sarah claims she's too old for board games and playfully throws down the dice. After she does so, a piece on the board moves on its own, and strange sounds are heard from the fireplace. Sarah becomes scared and tells Alan to not take his turn. Ignoring her, he rolls the dice and receives the following message: "In the jungle you must wait, until the dice read five or eight."Sarah recoils in horror as Alan is literally sucked into the game, following which scores of large bats swarm down the chimney and out through the fireplace. Sarah runs screaming from the house, slamming the door behind her.Twenty-six years later, Nora Shepherd moves into the now-vacant Parrish mansion with her niece and nephew, Judy and Peter. The children have been entrusted into Nora's care since their parents were killed while on a skiing trip. Judy has developed a penchant for concocting ridiculous lies while Peter has coped by becoming quiet and withdrawn.Judy and Peter explore the house and soon make their way to the attic, where they are spooked by a bat. This brings an exterminator to inspect the house but nothing else turns up. When Judy is shown pictures of various bats, she points out a picture of an African fruit bat. The exterminator says that a girl in the 60's claimed to have seen the same kind of bat. Before he leaves, the exterminator tells the kids a story that he believes the owner of the house murdered his son Alan, dismembered his body and hid the remains in the walls of the mansion.The next day, while Nora is out, Peter and Judy hear the tribal drum sounds, and come across the Jumanji board game in the attic. Opening it up, two game pieces magically lock into place for them. The first roll of the dice by Judy spawns giant mosquitos, which soon fly out an open window in the attic. Peter rolls snake-eyes, which unleashes a horde of crazed monkeys in the kitchen. It is after this that Judy reads a message on the game board which states that everything will revert to normal once the game is finished. As Peter has rolled 'doubles,' he takes another turn. Peter rolls a '5,' and the two are soon shocked to find a lion in their house. Their shock soon doubles when Alan appears, now a forty-year-old man in jungle garb. Alan corrals the lion in a bedroom before thanking Judy and Peter for freeing him. When Alan asks where his parents are, Judy informs him that it is 1995 and that she, Peter and their Aunt Nora are the new owners of the house.Alan rushes outside, where he encounters Carl in a police cruiser. While Carl demands to know who Alan is, the monkeys from the kitchen hijack Carl's car and drive off in it, with Carl running behind in pursuit. Alan then rushes off, intent to find his family. Alan soon finds the Parrish Shoe Factory has been shuttered. Entering the factory, Alan comes across a homeless man who tells the group that after Alan went missing, Sam used all his time, energy and wealth to find him. When Alan asks to know where the two elder Parish's are, the homeless man directs Alan to the nearby cemetery.After visiting his parents' graves, Alan and the kids return to the mansion, where the kids attempt to get Alan to help them finish the game. However, they soon find that the game has to be played in the order of who is next. As Alan was the second person to roll the dice, followed by Judy and Peter, that means that Sarah has to roll the dice for the game to advance.Unsure where to go, the three go to the house where Sarah lived as a girl only to find psychic living there. They ask the psychic for help finding Sarah, only to find the psychic IS Sarah. After Sarah faints at the sight of Alan, Alan and the kids take her back to the mansion. Upon seeing the game board Sarah freaks out, claiming that what she 'thought' she saw (Alan being sucked into the game) was a hallucination, and that Alan's father had killed him and dismembered his body, hiding it in the walls of the mansion.Alan manages to trick Sarah into taking her turn, which unleashes a number of carnivorous plants. The group then retreats to another part of the house, where Alan takes his turn. Alan's turn summons the game's most deadly aspect--a big-game hunter from the game named Van Pelt, who has been chasing Alan for some time within the game of Jumanji. It is only when Van Pelt runs out of ammunition does he give up, going off to get more.We can tell that Jumanji has created Van Pelt by patterning him after Alan's father, Sam Parrish. He seems only interesting in hunting Alan to death and screams at him for being "a sniveling, yellow coward" for not facing Van Pelt and his gun. Once again, an exaggerated nightmare conjuring of Sam Parrish.The group next goes to the library in the mansion, where Judy's turn results in a massive stampede of animals bursting forth from the bookcase behind them. In the ensuing chaos, a large white pelican grabs the game in its beak and flies off. Alan chases after it, with the group in tow.Alan finds the pelican by a river, catches a fish and tosses it to the bird, causing it to knock the game into the river. Peter manages to retrieve the game and everyone returns to the house. However, Carl appears and takes Alan away. Once Alan is gone, Peter reveals that he has attempted to cheat by attempting to drop the dice so that he would get the number he needed to reach the end. As a result, Peter begins to morph into a monkey.In the police cruiser, Alan finally tells Carl who he is and Carl attempts to get Alan back to Judy, Peter and Sarah.Meanwhile, the three have been found again by Van Pelt (now having acquired a high-powered assault rifle). The chase leads the group into the heart of the town where the animal stampede almost kills Peter. Van Pelt finds Peter trapped in a crushed car and wrestles the game away from him, then heads for a discount store. Van Pelt intends to trap Sarah and use her as bait along with the game to lure Alan to him. Alan and Carl eventually do find them at the store. Carl's vehicle crashes through the front of the store, burying Van Pelt in an avalanche of paint cans.The group returns to the house, only to find the carnivorous plants have taken over the interior. The next turn causes a monsoon to flood the main floor of the house and the group to be chased by a large crocodile. Everyone heads for the attic, where Sarah takes her turn, and the floor turns to quicksand, almost swallowing Alan. Judy rolls the dice, freezing the floor, saving Alan from being swallowed up by the floor. Peter rolls next and some large spiders suddenly appear. Judy attempts to fight them off, but accidentally finds one of the plants, which shoots her with a poisonous barb.Sarah takes her turn, resulting in an earthquake that splits the Parrish house in two. Alan is freed and falls through the floor, along with the game. Alan manages to recover the game and is about to take his turn when Van Pelt appears. Alan drops the dice. Van Pelt encourages Alan to run, but Alan declares that he won't run anymore and will face his fears. As he says this, the dice finish their roll and Alan's piece reaches the center of the board. Van Pelt asks Alan for his last words. After Alan calls out the name of the game, all the creatures and animals are sucked back into the game (including Van Pelt himself), as Alan and Sarah embrace each other and close their eyes.When they open them again, they find themselves back in the parlor of Alan's house in 1969. A sound is heard nearby as Sam Parrish returns to get a forgotten speech. Alan quickly rushes to hug his father and apologizes for what he said before his father left. Sam apologizes as well and decides not to send him away. He also takes responsibility for Carl's prototype sneaker becoming lodged in the factory machine.After Sam leaves, Alan panics about Judy and Peter. Sarah reminds him that they don't yet exist. The two then take the game, weight it down, and toss it into a nearby river. Sarah then tells Alan that it feels like the memories of their adventure are waning and decides to kiss him for the bravery he showed.The epilogue of the film returns us to the year 1995. Alan and Sarah have married and are expecting their first child. A Christmas party is being held at the Parrish mansion, and Alan is speaking by phone to his father as he and Alan's mother are away on a vacation. Carl is present at the party. Alan and Sarah have also invited Judy and Peter and their parents to the party (though the kids have no idea of the previous adventures). Alan and Sarah are eager to provide Judy and Peter's father with an advertising position with the Parrish Shoe company. However both of the parents feel they should wait to accept until after they take a planned skiing trip in the Canadian Rockies. Alan and Sarah, in unison, shriek, "NO!"The film ends with a pair of French girls walking along a beach, wondering about a strange drum beat they both hear. Buried in the sand several yards in front of them is the Jumanji board game, preparing to claim its next players. | psychedelic, fantasy | train | imdb | After finding her, they must hurry before the town they live in is destroyed and before they all die!Jumanji is great family film, packed with - at the time - great graphics (that now look like a computer game).
The acting was great, and Robin Williams is perfect for the role of Alan Parrish, and Bonnie Hunt and him had good chemistry.
Kirsten Dunst in this film was further shaping her acting career, to appear in such films now like 'Spider-Man' and the teen movie 'Bring It On.' I honestly forget the name of the kid who plays Judy's brother Peter, but he was okay.
I've probably viewed this movie as much as any, simply because it was so entertaining.Robin Williams, David Alan Grier and the two kids, Kristen Dunst and Bradley Pierce, were all great people to watch and share this adventure with.
It's a great family film that will make you feel good and have fun with.Robin Williams plays Alan, a boy who when he was little and had a horrible fight with his father plays a game with his friend, Sarah, and the game happens to be cursed causing Alan to get sucked into the game until someone else plays it.
When a new family moves in, Judy and Peter and their Aunt Nora, they find the game and start playing and release Alan who has just survived decades in a jungle.
Finding the grown girl to complete the group, the four must complete the game before their town is destroyed by the stampeding rhinos, killer pod vines and crazed Great White Hunter.Robin has some good moments in this film, though he isn't allowed to riff as much as in other vehicles.
He's supported by an excellent cast, including a young Kirsten Dunst as the sister of the new pair of children; Jonathan Hyde as both the 1969 father and Van Pelt, the Great White Hunter from the game; and Bebe Neuwirth as the modern children's aunt.
You know the drill: young Alan Parrish gets sucked into a board game called Jumanji, returns when a brother and sister are playing 26 years later, and has to battle the animals that wreak havoc on the town.
With good support from Bonnie Hunt, Kirsten Dunst, David Alan Grier, Bebe Neuwirth, Jonathan Hyde and Patricia Clarkson, this is a pretty interesting movie.
I will admit that the monkeys looked pretty fake, but we can't dwell on that in this movie; the point is to enjoy oneself while watching it.Oh and one more thing: from "Jumanji", I learned the difference between alligators and crocodiles..
The acting by a young Kirsten Dunst and comedic Robin Williams and the rest of the cast is very well done.This is a great movie and if you have children between the ages of 7 to 13 I would bet they'd like it too..
The plot heightens the intensity of the jungle by bringing a board game to actual life, with really good special effects for a 90's film.
Looking back at the movie, however, even as a young adult, I still love this film as much as anyone else even though the picture book itself is rather good.There are two flaws that prevented me from giving this an even higher rating.
The villain, Van Pelt, is great and Jonathan Hyde, who also plays Alan's father, Sam Parrish, played his role perfectly with a sinister tone to him.What I liked the most about the movie, however, is the music score from James Horner.
It also had some nice action moments that never fails to take ever single inch of my breath away and they fitted perfectly to the overall darker tone of the film.Overall, Jumanji isn't exactly the best movie ever made, but it's completely underrated despite the mixed reception it had upon it's first release.
In 1969, in a small town in New Hampshire, a twelve-year-old boy named Alan Parrish finds a Victorian-era board game called "Jumanji", and starts to play it with his friend Sarah.
Just as deadly is a white hunter named Van Pelt who will take pot-shots at anything that moves, animal or human.The big-name star in this film is Robin Williams, although it also features a young Kirsten Dunst, later to become a big name herself.
This isn't Williams' best role- I generally prefer him in his more serious films like "Dead Poet's Society" or "Good Morning, Vietnam"- but it's a lot better than many of his comedies, which can descend into either silliness or sentimentality.This is the sort of family film that offers something to entertain the adults as well as the children, and has some underlying serious themes.
The movie has great cast, good acting, great special effects for its time, and an original, well told story.
The premise, a game that produces real consequences (like a stampede of wild African animals, or a floor that turns into quicksand), is a fun way to introduce several exciting--sometimes hysterical, sometimes terrifying--circumstances for Robin Williams and the rest of the cast to have fun with, and fun it is, like a roller coaster at Six Flags.But in a way this film is also about growing up; about learning how to fit in, how to be responsible for yourself, and above all how perseverance can win the day.
All the actors (Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt, Jonathan Hyde, Kirsten Dunst and David Allan Grier) give great performances and their characters are all endearing.In fact, this is one of the movies I would never get tired of re-watching, because it's so entertaining and funny.
It's actually the energetic way that the film is directed that saves the film slightly as in lesser hands it probably would be a complete disaster.Williams was always good value to watch and puts in another fun turn here; although in the moment when he's released from the board game he comes dangerously close to 'overacting' but just about gets away with it I think.
Williams is nicely supported by a young Kirsten Dunst and the likes of Bonnie Hunt, David Alan Grier and Bradley Pierce are also OK in support.There are some problems with this picture such as a weak narrative and poor special effects and I also felt that the effects side of the production was more important to those concerned than the actual story creating a style over substance effect - although the film is geared more towards kids so perhaps this was intentional.
I also found the film to be a little contrived; Alan needs to find his old friend in order to finish the board game and despite 26 years passing she's conveniently living in the same house she grew up in as a child.
The fact that Robin Williams starred made the film better, as Robin was a huge draw to family films of that era.Who ever knew that Jumanji would have a cult following or that it would spawn an actual board game (nothing comes to life), and eventually a sequel in 2017.
One of the most memorable acting performances of the film was Jonathan Hyde as Sam Parrish (Alan's dad) and his dual role as Van Pelt (the hunter from Jumanji).In the end, it was a great film, probably felt more now by some since the passing of Robin Williams.
26 years later, Judy and Peter Shepherd (Kirsten Dunst and Bradley Pierce), two orphaned kids living with their aunt, discover the game in the attic of their new home and begin to play, freeing the now-grown-up Alan (Robin Williams) in the process.
Their only hope of survival is to finish the game, whatever the risks.Action packed, funny, heartwarming and even a little scary in places, Jumanji is an excellent family adventure for the whole family, and one that, thankfully, doesn't rely solely on its special effects to impress (a good job, since quite a bit of the CGI is looking rather dated).
The story is engaging (with a nice time-travel style twist at the end), the cast is great (with Williams managing to give one of his less irritating performances), and once again director Joe Johnston delivers a final product that, whilst not a classic, is still thoroughly entertaining from start to finish.7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb..
Alan (Robin Williams) and Sarah (Bonnie Hunt) will have to play some more if there lives are return to normality.The concept of the movie is truly original and it successfully delivers on its potential, with an excellent cast and funny script, this adventure is both hilarious and action packed, with some cool special effects thrown in.Great family entertainment 8/10.
It's just in-between that things go a little bit different...What was just a little game meeting transforms into a special effects extravaganza, filled with all sorts of creatures and eye-catching action scenes and stunts that seem to be borrowed from the best moments of the Indiana Jones adventures.The computerized special FX are the main aspects of the movie and they mostly succeed to their task.
Roll 1 for talented Robin Williams starring in yet another saccharine role that is completely beneath him.Roll a 2 for ropy CGI effects that wouldn't even fool Stevie Wonder.Roll a 3 for screamy shouty kids with clichéd "disfunctional" background.Roll a 4 for charmless predictability, nauseating incidental music and unimaginative direction.Roll a 5 - you've landed on the only inspired moment in the whole film - the CGI monkeys watching The Wizard of Oz and then trying to fly.
I will always enjoy Robin Williams in movies (RIP) and I also like Kristen Dunst because of Spider-Man. If you look at Jumanji in a critical standpoint, it's not good but it's great if you just want to be purely entertained..
i have t say,this movie started out pretty slow,and i thought it was gonna be a dud.i'm glad i kept watching.it turned into a pretty good movie.if you're into action and adventure,you'll certainly find it in abundance here.there are some great action sequences,providing scads of excitement.but there are also a lot of very funny moments,and there's even a hint or 2 of romance.there are some fantastic creatures here.the only downside i can think of is the visual effects.i found them kinda cheesy,and sometimes they didn't quite look real.the creatures sometimes looked a bit wonky,but other times were pretty realistic.but that's a small downside,since the movie is so much fun.Robin Williams is the featured performer here,but i thought Bonnie Hunt was terrific.Bebe Neuwirth was very good as well.but David Alan Grier was a riot.Kirsten Dunst was good too.overall, this is a good movie for both kids and adults.for me,Jumani is a 7/10.
Either way, it is a nice set-up, starting in the 1800's as two young kids bury the game in hopes to rid the world of it, only to be found again by Alan Parrish in 1969, transporting him into the jungle world for 26 years until two new children stumble upon its drumming.Special effects are a very interesting thing.
I think they should have used real monkeys here.Certain parts of the dialogue are a little corny and make one feel as though we're watching "Spy Kids", which can sometimes really ruin the feel that they're in a life-or-death situation.The acting was great (some parts it was not), and as usual, Robin Williams and Kirsten Dunst put on an above-average performance.The action and crashes and other sequences are a contradiction, in a way.
Of which Alan is sucked into the game until 26 years later when Judy (Kirsten Dunst) and Peter Shepherd (Bradley Pierce) rediscover the game and start what begun those years ago.There they meet adult Alan Parrish (Robin Williams) and Sarah (Bonnie Hunt) who join them in finishing the game.
Set in 1995, the film follows a young boy named Peter Shepard (played by Bradley Pierce) and his sister Judy (played by Kirsten Dunst) who discover a mysterious game in the attic of the home 12-year old Alan Parrish (played by Adam-Hann Byrd) disappeared in twenty-six years ago.
Upon rolling the dice, Peter and Judy unexpectedly release a thirty-something year old Alan (played by Robin Williams) who reveals to have disappeared into the game.
Despite the lack of authenticity perpetrated by these subpar effects, the film luckily manages to stay fun and charming, especially by the comedic charm of Robin Williams who swarms in the movie with livelihood and humility as well as the rest of the cast including Bradley Pierce, Kirsten Dunst, and Bonnie Hunt.
Young orphans Peter and Judy (Kirsten Dunst & Bradley Pierce) are moving into his old family home, so fate (and those damn creepy drums) would have them find the Jumanji in the attic, and continue the game Alan started with Sarah (Bonnie Hunt) over a decade ago.
Jumanji like Ghost , I surprised myself with the note in Metascore , very low, only 39 ?, the film is very fun , obviously in terms of the film script is weak , plus the cast is good, great Robin Williams as always Kristen Dunst young , and also participation as a police officer David Alan Grier , and his scenes are funny, the special effects at the time are acceptable , plus some people may not like , since the film is not as present (one of the big reasons because I support the remake will have Dwayne Johnson , Kevin Hart and Jack Black) , has good fun characters , some are boring , have really nice moments , and the end of the film hinted that would have a continuation , Jumanji is a good movie , is an excellent pass time , where we see Robin Williams do what do best , take the viewer smiles .
Jumanji is directed by Joe Johnston and is the story of two children (Kirsten Dunst, Bradley Pierce) that find a magical board game that unleashes animals and magic upon them, and they have to play until someone wins.
Alan and the kids must find Sarah and complete the game so that everything can go back to normal, and they can continue to live their lives.Jumanji is an amazing film, if you're a child.
Any shots with practical effects look great, very much unlike the CGI.The best thing that this film has to offer is the emotional conflict with Robin Williams' character, specifically the connection between him and his father.
It's an entertaining film that boasts a fun and unique storyline that the kids will certainly enjoy, even if the effects are outdated, and the performances can be appreciated by all ages, Robin Williams delivers a very dedicated performance, which shows how great of an actor he really is, he easily could have phoned it in for a film like this, but he refused, his scenes with Bonnie Hunt are the films highlight, their chemistry is outstanding and brought this film from a six to a seven for me.
It's jam packed with flaws and kids will certainly enjoy it more than adults, but Jumangi still has this irresistible thing about it that makes it a lot of fun to watch, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good family film, for Robin Williams alone, it's worth the watch.
Kirsten Dunst, does a great job as his love interest and former playmate.Other roles by David Alan Grier, Bonnie Hunt, Jonathan Hyde and Bebe Neuwirth fill out the cast nicely along with the child actors who play Peter & Judy and the young Alan & Sarah.Jumangi was one of the better, more successful films to come out of TriStar..
It's an enjoyable family-entertainment fantasy adventure with Williams playing a grown man who as a boy was sucked into a mysterious, dark board game called Jumanji, freed years later by a couple of young children who happen upon the game when they move into Williams's character by this time run-down house.
Robin Williams is always fun to watch and he was very popular at the time, due to movies like "Aladdin" and "Mrs Doubtfire" and Kristen Dunst was a real talent as a young actress, none of the annoying traits of usual child actors.
Alan Parrish (Robin Williams), Judy Shepherd (Kirsten Dunst), Peter Shepherd (Bradley Pierce) and Sarah Whittle (Bonnie Hunt) are the four main characters playing and trying to finish the game, but as each of their turn passes, new dangers are released from the game.
Add in some nice acting work from Robin Williams and Kirsten Dunst, some rather creative action scenes and an antagonist in the form of a great white hunter Van Pelt (Jonathan Hyde) and you have a movie that will surely stick to you mind.
Well the Jumanji is just a great movie which shows how life is filled with luck and chances...The concept of game of dice is so good and the movie will be a bit of thriller too because we will be curious what may come next when they roll the dice each time....Williams did his Alan character well, i almost felt like crying when Alan came to know that his family is no more....The only backdrop of the movie is the monkey.
They start playing the game without a clue, just like Alan and Sarah did, and dangerous animals begin to come out of it!
Last night, May 2,2003 this movie was on again........no matter what other show we might be browsing at the time, we invariably start watching Jumanji,,,,,,we enjoy the hilarity and antics of all the characters, it's done for shear fun and entertainment, and we don't care if the special effects may be outdated, we still consider it one of the best!
The story centers on 12-year-old Alan Parrish, who becomes trapped in a board game while playing with his best friend Sarah Whittle in 1969.
Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt, Jonathan Hyde and the kid's the only good part about this movie, everything else not so much.. |
tt4062536 | Green Room | Four friends - Pat (Anton Yelchin), Sam (Alia Shawkat), Reece (Joe Cole), and Tiger (Callum Turner) - wake up in their van. They're part of the punk rock band The Ain't Rights. They slept all night with the engine on. Pat and Sam ride a bike to a nearby parking lot and siphon some gas to get them back on the road.The band meets up with a guy named Tad (David W. Thompson) for an interview in his apartment for his radio program. He asks the band what their "desert island band" would be. Reece, Sam, and Tiger think of theirs, but Pat can't. After the interview, the band plays a gig, but their pay is barely decent split between the four of them. Tad tells the band that he got them to do a gig in a spot where his cousin works, and that the pay is better.The band arrives at the venue, which happens to be a skinhead bar. They meet Tad's cousin Daniel (Mark Webber). The managers misspelled the band's name as "The Arent Rights". They go up to play a cover of "Nazi Punks Fuck Off", which doesn't go well with the crowd. They then play a different song, which doesn't get a much better reception.After the show, the band gets their money and are about to head out. Sam forgot her phone in the green room, and Pat goes to get it. When he enters, he sees two people, Werm (Brent Werzner) and Amber (Imogen Poots), standing over the body of Amber's friend Emily, dead with a knife in her head. Pat freaks out and runs out of the room while calling 911. Two bouncers, Big Justin (Eric Edelstein) and Gabe (Macon Blair), force Sam, Reece, and Tiger into the room. Their phones get taken away while Justin holds them all at gunpoint.Gabe gets two young skinheads together to stab each other in response to the 911 call as an officer arrives. The club's owner, Darcy (Patrick Stewart), arrives, and he says the band has to be dealt with.The band attacks Justin and take his gun, with Reece pinning him down and threatening to break his arm. They let him up and Reece holds the gun at him this time. The club experiences a power outage, inciting a brief panic among the group until Amber turns on her lighter and sparks up a cigarette, which she gives to Justin and tells the band to watch the cherry in case of anything suspicious. The lights then go back on.Darcy stands outside the green room to calmly discuss with the band on how to handle the situation. They agree to hand over the gun but keep the bullets. Pat still remains suspicious as Darcy says the cops have come and gone. Pat gets ready to hand Darcy the gun outside the room, as Darcy claims there is nobody else with him. This proves to be a lie when Amber sees another pair of feet through the vents. Before she can warn him, Reece tries to attack Darcy with a rod while Pat's arm gets slammed and cut up horribly. Reece pins Justin back down and snaps his arm, then places him in a chokehold until he passes out. Amber finishes him off by cutting him open with a box cutter.While Darcy and the skinheads plan to get rid of them, the group starts to break through the floorboards for a way out. This leads them to a bunker where the skinheads run a heroin operation. There's no exit down there, so the group returns to the room. Tiger helps wrap Pat's arm in duct tape. With no other options, the group plans to make a run for it while arming themselves with some kind of weapon. Tiger and Reece run out, but Tiger gets his throat ripped out by a pit bull, and Reece gets stabbed to death.
?Pat, Amber, and Sam have to stay in the room. Daniel and Gabe go to the room, where Amber tells Daniel that Werm killed Emily when Werm learned that Emily was going to run away with Daniel, and now Darcy is going to pin her murder on the band. Daniel guides the three downstairs to get some guns, but Daniel gets a buckshot to the face, courtesy of a skinhead. Pat kills the skinhead with a machete. The three run outside with a shotgun, facing the skinheads. Darcy tells them not to shoot at Amber. Sam gets shot in the leg and is then mauled by the pit bull.Pat and Amber go back to the room, now both frightened and tired. Pat tells an anecdote about a paintball tournament he participated in, which he compares to his current situation as he was outnumbered in both scenarios. He and Amber then come up with a plan to survive.Darcy sends two skinheads into the green room to kill Pat and Amber. They find Pat yelling nonsensically, now with his head shaved and his face with black paint on it. He hops into the bunker, and one skinhead follows. The other skinhead sits above keeping watch, unaware of Amber hiding in the couch. She crawls out and slits the skinhead's throat with the box cutter. The first skinhead looks for Pat with his shotgun. Amber distracts him by throwing the bodies of Emily, Justin, and the second skinhead down. Pat seizes the chance to grab the skinhead's gun, but they fight for it. Amber descends with the gun of the skinhead she killed and shoots the other one dead.Gabe goes to the room as Pat and Amber make their way back up. Remorseful for what's happened, he says he wants to go to jail. Pat and Amber force him out of the room with their guns pointed at him. They leave the club as the morning comes. They leave Gabe to find a phone while Pat and Amber go into the woods.The two come across Darcy, along with two other skinheads, trying to dispose of Sam, Tiger, and Reece's bodies, trying to come up with another story while also planning to blow up their van by putting a burning rag in the tank. Pat and Amber find them and shoot the henchman. Darcy attempts to walk away as he draws his gun, but he is shot dead as well.Pat and Amber sit down as they wait for the police to arrive. They spot the pit bull, who walks calmly and lays by his owner (the dog got shot earlier and was given a sedative to allow him a little more time to live). Pat then tells Amber he figured out his "desert island" band. Amber says to tell someone who gives a shit. | revenge, suspenseful, murder, violence | train | imdb | Don't let ANYONE spoil you ANYTHING about the film.Don't see the trailer when it comes out.Avoid clips and any promo materials they may release in the future.Go in knowing as little as possible.Just know that watching Green Room is like getting a shot of adrenaline that doesn't let up until the very end.It's fantastic, tense, and entertaining.Take my word for it.But also...Don't get too caught up in the hype.See the film when it comes out.You'll be glad you did.P.S. Jeremy Saulnier is definitely someone to look out for..
Green Room is perhaps the most stressed out I've ever been watching a film, and if I'm not clear, that's actually a good thing.
Since the beginning of the year, A24 has been unstoppable, putting out some of the most unique and incredible genre movies to be released in quite some time.Green Room is certainly violent and grim.
Though it doesn't fall deep in the category of originality or even groundbreaking in any sense, the intriguing fashion in which Saulnier executes this film and the immersive cinematography by Sean Porter used to capture the harrowing intensity and gloomy visuals result in a highly effective slasher treat; and even labeling the results effective feels like an understatement.
So this film follows a punk rock band consisting of twenty-something year olds including lead singer Tiger (played by Callum Turner), guitarist Sam (played by Alia Shawkat), bassist Pat (played by Anton Yelchin), and drummer Reece (played by Joe Cole).
Jeremy Saulnier grants this intensely violent thriller with a gift to not only leave viewers shocked and squirming in their seats, but present an atmosphere so visceral to the point of giving viewers the feeling of not watching a gruesome slasher, but a real-life event unfolding on camera; and the scariest aspect of this film how brutally realistic it turns out on screen.
Saulnier does such an amazing job on capturing the brutal intensity of each moment as the characters desperately battle their way through a violent bloodbath against a gang of white supremacists that threaten their young lives, and the camera work done by Sean Porter makes for great use to capture these dreadful moments.
Instead of relying on the usual slasher horror stereotypes like the jock, the pot smoker, or the hot chick, Saulnier populated the film with characters that feel very believable and the dialogue these characters deliver more often than not feels typical to real-life college kids, thus adding to the insane realism.
Though his character is limited to do nothing but giving orders, the portrayal Stewart lands as this character truly hits hard.Green Room is an exhilarating slasher-horror thriller with a constant sense of fright and thrills, making it one of the most spine-chilling horror films to be released in recent years.
I read an article that said this movie is one of the best movie so far this year, and i agree.'Green Room' is about a struggling punk band that got into a wrong place at wrong time when one of them, Pat, witness a murder after the show they got into at secluded part of the Pacific Northwest.
The performances of the movie is also great, Anton Yelchin and Imogen Poots did a wonderful job, and so is the rest, except Patrick Stewart.
While the former is a much more personal story about one man on a revenge mission, Green Room covers a band who is accidentally thrust into a life or death situation at a skinhead bar after they come across a horrible crime.
Both are extremely disturbing takes on violence, I found Green Room to have a few more thrills and ideas being explored.Joining Saulnier is the late-great Anton Yelchin, Joe Cole (from Peaky Blinders fame), Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner, and Patrick Stewart.
Saulnier paints them as inexperienced and terrified which gives the action scenes more weight.It's not for everyone as the violence is more brutal than something you would find in a Scorsese film, but it's one of the most impressive thrillers of 2016 with creativity and grittiness that is up there with the best of them.+Performances are grounded with realism+Saulnier's relentless direction+Shocking9.0/10.
After seeing all the great reviews i was really looking forward to this, So maybe i watched the wrong movie, because all i saw was a few kids locked in a room at the back of a nazi pub and then they wheeled Pat stewart in to mumble a few lines to them from the other side of the door and then a couple of things happened so i gave it 3 stars.
Let's run through it, point by point.The sound editing is muddled to the point where dialogue is vastly inaudible.The cinematography is hazy and dark, and NOT in a good way that would give the supposition that we are seeing a "disturbing" film with a grittiness to it.Every character is unlikeable to the extreme!!
Besides the notable cast, Jeremy Saulnier's Green Room is most likely closer to his 2007 horror comedy Murder Party than his sleeper 2014 thriller Blue Ruin.
From there they're locked inside the Green Room and has people all over the outside wanting to get in and kill them by any means necessary while the band and one other person who happens to be in the way who's NOT a neo-Nazi tries to get out.Pretty much the beginning and end of the movie are...
I can't really get my head around why this is so highly rated (yes 7.3/10 which it is as I write this on IMDb for a 'horror' is very highly rated).I'm guessing Anton Yelchin's recently dying had quite a bit to do with it, the fans giving the rating an extra boost in his honour or whatever but I could be wrong, I mean a lot of people like THE INVITATION (2015) which I thought was crap so it's possible that people actually liked it as much as that.Anyway, as far as the movie goes I expected something much more exciting and fast-paced, but fast-paced is definitely not the right word for this movie.Even though it has some surprise shock value scenes serving for jump-scares with some neat gore here and there, for the more part the pace is slow and the mood is more melancholic than it is intense.The acting is disappointing, nobody is flat out terrible but I wouldn't say that anyone was particularly good, everyone played their characters very low-key often mumbling, even in the what was supposed to be intense scenes.
And Patrick Stewart was not believable as the leader of the redneck Nazis.There's a scene where Anton Yelchin's character says something like 'Shouldn't we be in shock right now?', to which I thought to myself 'Yes, Anton, you should'.And I haven't even mentioned how stupid most of the characters are, but then I suppose that is true to the horror tradition..
Here you simply had no development of the characters or any point or reason for any of this to happen.Utterly dreary and boring, other than some slasher violence and gore, this is BARELY a horror movie.Avoid this movie, and seriously avoid ever watching a movie by this director.
I guess 2016 is a bad year for the movies industries so far , most movies are commercials to sell more tickets !This movie like hundreds you have already watched similar ideas nothing new also with no purpose group entering a place and getting trapped !When I search for ( Green Room worst ) ( Green Room bad ) in twitter I saw a lot of people agreed with my opinion and got similar taste of mine , I can't believe how much we have wasted our time in life to watch movies based on false high rating !!!
The late Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shaukat and Picard himself, Patrick Stewart showcase their talents in this nail bitter of a follow-up.A down on their luck punk rock band take a gig at a neo-nazi club.
'GREEN ROOM': Five Stars (Out of Five)A crime-thriller/horror flick, written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier (the man who brought us the outstanding 'BLUE RUIN', 2 years ago).
Green Room has the same vicious, simplistic edge to it that director Jeremy Saulnier's 2011 thriller Blue Ruin had, but sharpened and honed to near perfection this time around.
A battle for survival ensues, while the group await the arrival of Darcy (Patrick Stewart), their chief in command.It's still a very effective formula in horror films to have characters who start off in fairly controlled situations where something happens, and events spiral out of control, leaving them in a terrifying predicament that they never even dreamed of.
And from this angle, Green Room had as much potential as any other, but Jeremy Saulnier's deathly drained piece is sadly an uninvolving, totally unsuspenseful thriller that you will struggle with to the end.It's as if the cast can sense how bad the screenplay and dialogue are, and most of it is barely audible, with all of them mumbling everything at a really low murmur, where you almost can't hear a word.
Whatever previous ideas of Patrick Stewart you may have either from his "Star Trek" or "X-Men" years immediately goes out the window once you see his performance in this film, I really didn't think he had it in him, what an excellent performance.Written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier, the story is pretty simple, it's about a struggling punk rock band in the Pacific Northwest, they do a small concert in a small white power bar, and what's supposed to be a quick gig turns into a nightmare when they stumble upon a murder.
At the wrong place at the wrong time is where they are and so now they're forced to bust their way out of the bar that's been surrounded by the lethal skinheads who want to eliminate any trace of evidence and witnesses.The minute the terror kicks in, GREEN ROOM's level of tension shoots up and remains there throughout the entire film, the violence keeps on humming, you just never know what sort of maniacal actions or retaliations that may occur, this is one of those films that consistently shocks you, leaving you to wonder who among the characters would survive because your guess is as good as the next person's.
Writer/director Jeremy Saulnier's follow-up to his critically- acclaimed Blue Ruin (2013) is a stunning exercise in survival horror.It begins with the Ain't Rights, a punk band on their way to a gig that turns out to be a waste of time.
I have watched this film about 6 times with different friends and family as I find it endlessly watchable, as it is gorgeously shot, with a great soundtrack, gut busting violence and a real bad ass vibe, while like his previous works doesn't glorify revenge or conflict and shows that it really is humanity's dumbest solution to our problems.
From the team that brought the world 'Blue Ruin', Jeremy Saulnier goes back to basics with 'Green Room.' A Punk-Rock band, in desperation of making some decent money while on the other side of the country, takes a gig at a somewhat desolate venue that frequents Neo-Nazis.
When they witness a murder in the Green Room, then the classic Horror/Thriller movie romp ramps up.The film opened TIFF's 2015 Midnight Madness category to great reactions.
A guy that could be your friendly neighbour, if it wasn't for...So Green Room is a gritty, realistic horror movie, well directed and acted.
The darkness levels, the shot framing, the approach to violence and gore – "Green Room" could have been a campy horror endeavor, but Saulnier never allows the film to lose its grip on reality.
A key negotiation scene between Pat and the club owner, Darcy (Patrick Stewart, whose gravitas only makes the film scarier) in which tensions run high but blood has not yet been shed, works, not for the particular scenario or dialogue, but the way our brains reel in trying to process the best positive outcome despite knowing full well things will get worse for the band.
fight back in life-threatening situations and has something insights into the human instinct and capacity for violence."Green Room" gets confusing at times and the characters embody attitudes and decision-making traits more so than complete people with motivations other than "not dying." It's a step up from the way most horror movies treat their characters, but not all that different.
This film is dripping with atmosphere, the cinematography is superb and the characters are realistic and grounded considering the fact the film centers on a punk band and neo Nazis it would be very easy for the writing to fulfill the stereotype that would no doubt be attached to such easily identifiable sub groups.This movie is fresh as daises, the characters are all believable and their reactions and the actions are all well fitting into the real world.
From the writer-director of Murder Party & Blue Ruin, Green Room is a neatly envisioned, extremely effective & unabashedly violent horror thriller that's absolutely remorseless with its content, brims with charged tension & makes excellent use of its foreboding ambiance to finish as a bone-chilling, machete-sharp cinema that offers no respite from the slaughter that ensues once things go south, and will effortlessly manage to keep its viewers on the edge of their seats throughout its runtime.Set in a remote club in the backwoods, the story of Green Room follows members of a punk rock band who have a gig in the area filled with neo-nazi skinheads.
The background score has a muted presence in the final print, but it's the effective use of silence that uplifts its tense mood to an unbearable level.Coming to the performances, Green Room packs a committed cast in Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawcat, Joe Cole, Callum Turner & Patrick Stewart, with all of them chipping in with sincere inputs.
Yelchin & Poots only get better in their given roles as the plot progresses, Stewart is in top form from the get-go, Macon Blair also has a supporting role, at which he does a very convincing job, and last but not the least, there is a pit bull in the movie that pretty much steals every scene it is in.On an overall scale, Green Room is a skilfully directed, finely scripted, deftly photographed, tightly edited, methodically paced, ably performed & calmly scored cinema that doesn't even try to do anything different with its genre(s) yet what turns it into a relentlessly thrilling experience is the way all its elements come together to work in near-perfect harmony.
It's easily one of the best of 2016 and I doubt it will fall out of my top 10 if not my top 5 by year's end.***Final thoughts: Probably more horrific that the horror I mentioned in this movie is the incredibly sad news that the lead, Anton Yelchin, just recently passed away abruptly at age 27
JUST 10 days ago from this viewing and my review.
The opening sequence is dark but comical, clever edits and a story which immediately interests.And then Patrick Stewart appears, quite a surprise as he's without question the most well-known member of the cast for this movie, immediately you assume that it will be a great film.The gore was impressive, the effects of the injuries were just perfection and at no stage did CGI appear to present.
Well, this movie sure was worth mine, but all the while I wouldn't recommend it to everyone and maybe not even most people.If you're not lighthearted and you appreciate the proper use of (graphic) hard hitting violence in a movie, if you like it when a movie grabs you by the gut and won't let go, and if constant edge-of-the-seat feeling is something you seek in your viewing experience, then this movie is definitely for you.Well made, solid acting all around and (much like Saulnier's previous work, Blue Ruin) truly realistic this movie really is a must see in my book..
'Green Room' is one of my most anticipated films of the year due to the return of director Jeremy Saulnier, Patrick Stewart as a leader of a Neo Nazi group, and a punk band fighting Neo Nazis.
The Ain't Rights will then be forced to deal with the evil club owner, Darcy (the great Patrick Stewart), and his unrelenting minions.This viewer wasn't as blown away with this movie as some people, feeling that while the situation was reasonably riveting and the pacing very good, the story and the characters are mostly pretty thin.
Seeing the 7/10 rating and the glorifying first 4-5 reviews claiming Green Room to be "an adrenaline rush for beginning to end" and a great movie overall , I was totally disappointed while watching it .
The film Green Room gains even greater importance as one of the last works in which we see the actor Anton Yelchin, who died on June 19, 2016, at 27 years old, pressed by his own car against a concrete mailbox in the house where he lived.Directed and written by Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin - 2013), Green Room tells the story of four young musicians, Pat (Anton Yelchin), Sam (Akia Shawkat), Tiger (Callum Turner) and Reece (Joe Cole), members of a punk rock band called A'int Rights.
I mean who would not want to see Patrick Stewart in a horror movie :) But also Imogen Poots, as well as Anton Yelchin convinced me.
Since the release of his previous film "Blue Ruin" and even more so now with "Green Room", literally everyone is glorifying the writing and directing skills of Jeremy Saulnier and refers to him as one of the best young directors of a new generation.
"Green Room" isn't really a horror movie but a very brutal thriller, and there are quite a lot of sequences that will be hard to watch for squeamish folks. |
tt0052618 | Ben-Hur | Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) is a wealthy merchant living in Judea at the time of Christ. Under the influence of the oppressive Roman Empire, the land seethes with talk of revolt, and Caesar has sent more soldiers to quell the potential uprising. The new Tribune Messala (Stephen Boyd) once lived in Judea as a boy, and longs to rekindle his old friendship with Judah, but when they meet it is obvious that Messala has been changed by the years he has been away, fighting the enemies of the Empire. He is harsh and calculating, driven by ambition, and eager to prove himself to Caesar. Asking Judah for help in rounding up the local dissenters, they argue, and when Judah refuses to betray his own people Messala declares that they must be either friends or enemies, and leaves in anger.A few days later the Romans parade through the city in a show of force, and as they pass the house of Hur, Judah's sister leans out over the balcony for a better look. She dislodges a few roof tiles which fall onto the new Governor as he rides by, and Messala seizes an opportunity. Arresting Judah, his sister and mother, he throws them all into prison. Judah learns that he is to be condemned without trial or hearing, and flies into a desparate rage. Breaking free from his jailers, Judah smashes his way into Messala's chamber, demanding to know why he has done this evil deed. Messala calmly explains that by condemning an old friend without hesitation, he will show the rest of Judea that he is to be feared. "I asked for your help Judah," says Messala, "and now you've given it to me." He dismisses Judah to the death of a slave in the galleys, and leaves the mother and sister to rot in prison.Chained to a group of criminals, Judah is marched through the desert. Barely alive, they pass though a village called Nazareth, where a compassionate young man gives him water. Gazing into his eyes, Judah is filled with wonder, and recieves the life-giving gift of a simple drink. When an angry Roman guard barks the young man rises and the guard stares into his face, percieving something there that, perhaps for the first time in his life, forces the Roman to back down. Judah is marched away with the other condemned men, but continues to gaze back at the man who saved his life.Years pass. Judah rows his life away in the galleys. When the new centurion Quintas Arrius (Jack Hawkins) comes aboard, he puts all the slaves to a test of endurance, looking for any with enough spirit to defy him. Judah, filled with hate for the Romans, catches his eye. Soon the fleet engages the enemy in battle and in the mayhem, Arrius is cast overboard only to be saved by the slave Judah Ben-Hur. Finding his fleet victorius, he returns in triumph to Rome with Judah at his side and after a time adopts him as a son. A rich and influential man once again, Judah's thoughts return to Judea and the vengeance he has sworn on Messala.Along the road to Judea, Judah meets a Arab Sheik and an old wise man named Balthasar, one of those who followed the star of Bethlehem at the time of Christ's birth. Balthasar now seeks Christ grown into a man, and befriends Judah, sensing the goodness of his soul, but also the hatred for an old enemy. Finding that Judah is skilled in chariot racing, Sheik Ilderim coaches Judah to ride his team of white horses in the upcoming race against Messala and his notorious blacks. Judah accepts and prepares to meet Messala in the arena. When he learns of Judah's return, Messala is astonished, but quickly begins to plot again. In the arena, many fortunes can change.Entering the arena, the contestants line up and await the signal from the governor, Pontius Pilate. He drops a white cloth, and the race is on. In this spectacular contest many other teams crash, and Judah and Messala collide time and again, striving for the lead. When Messala, consumed by his desire to defeat Judah, crashes his chariot into another, he is thrown out and dragged behind his own stampeding horses, then trampled by others as they race around the track. Judah rides to a glorius victory, and the shattered body of Messala is carried away.As his life ebbs, Messala confronts Judah one last time, and tells him that his mother and sister are not dead as was thought, but alive, condemed to the living death of lepers. Cackling at his final victory over Judah, Messala gasps his last. "The game goes on Judah!" he hisses as he dies. A stunned Judah goes forth, his victory hollow, the vengeance he'd sought meaningless.Seeking release from his hatred, Judah walks through the city, encountering Balthasar again, who has now found the living Christ he was seeking. Begging him to come and hear the words of Jesus, he tries to help Judah and ease his pain, but to no avail. Judah cannot live with the thought of his beloved mother and sister suffering in the valley of the lepers, and seeks them out. Tenderly carrying them into the city, he finds it empty, as everyone has gone to the trial of Jesus. Hiding in the shadows, they all witness the suffering of Christ as he is led to his crucifixion. As Jesus passes, Judah recognises him as the young man who'd saved his life with a simple drink of water in the desert. Amazed, he pushes through the guards, and as Jesus falls, Judah carries a gourd of water to him and helps him to drink. Gazing in wonder once more into his eyes, Judah is touched by Christ.At the site of the Crucifixion, Judah and Balthasar weep at the cruelty, and watch as the sky turns dark. Judah's mother and sister take shelter in a nearby cave, and cry out in terror as the Earth trembles, and lightning slashes the sky. A flash of light reveals their leprosy had been healed, a miracle they do not understand, but for which they thank God. Judah returns to his home, finding his family healed and restored to him, and finding also that the sacrifice of Christ has taken the hatred out of his heart and saved his soul. | suspenseful, murder, suicidal, violence, romantic, revenge, historical | train | imdb | null |
tt0064369 | The Ghastly Ones | In the opening scene, set on a 1880's Victorian-era private island somewhere on the Hudson River, a young couple, Robert and Ada, are having a picnic near an old house when Robert wonders off and gets attacked and hacked apart by a wild-eyed hunchback man. Ada goes off to look for him when she too is attacked and killed.Some time later in Philadelphia, Vicky receives a letter from a lawyer explaining about her father's recent passing and she wants her husband, Richard, to travel with her to New York City to meet with Dobbs, her father's estate lawyer. Before leaving, Vicky and Richard meet with Father Walter, an old friend to ask for money since Richard is broke. It is implied that Father Walter and Richard had a secret sexual tryst sometime back.In New England, Vicky's younger sister, Elizabeth, received a similar letter and tries to get her lazy husband, Donald, to listen about this turn of events.In New York, Veronica, the youngest sister of Vicky and Elizabeth, receives a letter from Dobbs and tells her emotionally distant and barren husband, William, about her sisters arriving for a visit. In New York, while the men go off to a men's club, the women have dinner at a local restaurant where they talk about what may lay in store for them since they have not seen each other for several years.The next day, the three couples meet in the office of Lawyer Dobbs, a decrepit lawyer of their late father who has willed that upon his death, his three daughters, having married, must spend three days and two nights at his old house on Crenshaw Island on the Hudson where the money and possessions will get divided up among everyone.Upon arriving on the snowy and desolate island, Vicky, Rich, Liz, Donald, Veronica, and William are met by Hattie and Martha, the two housekeepers, whom lead them on a snow-covered path to the house. Accompanying them is Colin Trask, Hattie's mentally retarded hunchback brother (and the same killer from the opening scene), who works as a handyman on the property. Colin sees a white rabbit in the snow when he attacks it and eats it alive, forcing Martha to pull him away from his gruesome doings.During an uneventful evening, the two housekeepers tell the three couples about their dinner plans and about their employer, the girls father Mr. Crenshaw, whom was always out of the country on business and only lived inside the house five times in the past 30 years. Liz becomes worried that something is not right about Hattie or Martha, but Donald tells her that she's just imagining things.Later that night, when Veronica refuses William's desires for sex, he forces himself upon her and slaps her when she protests. Meanwhile, Vicky begins to confide in Richard about problems with this whole situation, but still wants to spend the time with him the best she can. When they hear a noise, Richard goes out of the bedroom to investigate and gets attacked by a shadowy, robed figure who brutally stabs him to death and throws him off the second floor balcony.In the morning, everyone is disturbed by Richard's mysterious death, but with no way of contacting anyone, they will have to wait until Lawyer Dobbs will arrive the following day with the final paperwork for the Crenshaw estate. Colin begins to try to comfort Vicky about her husband's murder, but she is put off by his ugly appearance despite his friendly attitude. When Donald ventures down into the cellar to get some more firewood for the fireplaces in the house, he gets attacked by the same robed figure who ties him to a table and disembowels him with a saw. Liz soon goes missing too, and when dinner is served that night, her severed head is discovered on a serving tray that Hattie and Martha serve for them.Now in fear that a killer is among them, Vicky, Veronica and William hold themselves up in a room to wait until morning. When William decides to venture out to have a talk with Hattie and Martha about what is going on, he is lured to the cellar where the robed figure attacks him by pinning him to a wall with a pitchfork and then disembowels him too. In the morning, Colin discovers William's dead body in the cellar as well as all the other murder victims and flees outside where he and Martha get attacked by the robed figure who stabs Martha to death and chases Colin back inside the house where the killer throws lamp oil onto him and sets him afire.Vicky and Veronica hear Colin's screams and venture outside their room when they come face to face with Hattie, whom is the killer all along. Hattie explains to the two surviving sisters that she is their long-lost half-sister whom was the product of their father's one-time infidelity and has been killing everyone so she can lay claim on the estate for herself. Just as the murderous Hattie is about to stab the ladies with a meat cleaver, the horribly burned Colin revives and lunges at Hattie in which she gets stabbed in the head with her own cleaver and they both tumble down the stairs to the ground floor, both dead... leaving Vicky and Veronica as the only survivors of the massacre.... and having to face Lawyer Dobbs when he shows up minutes later. | violence, cruelty, murder, sadist | train | imdb | Shot in that tight Milligan style where people seem to hug each other so they remain in frame (due to his camera being beyond poor).
Its a bad movie in the I can't believe they actually released this sort of way.
Again as with most Milligan films, little more than a home movie (stuff I shot looked like this and I couldn't release it) this is the sort of thing only masochists and bad movie lovers dare watch.
Come on how can one not enjoy-as with most Milligan period films- the desire to see the errors in continuity with objects from different eras mingling as if there was nothing wrong.
People who totally dig micro budget see-it-to-believe-how-bad-it-is schlock will probably enjoy Andy Milligan's "The Ghastly Ones".
Supposedly a period piece, it brings together three couples in an old house for the reading of a will, where they will exist "in sexual harmony" for three days.
It may require some patience on the part of some viewers, therefore, in order to get to the good stuff, such as it is - with oh so tacky bargain basement gore (A Sno ball stands in for an eyeball!), a dose of (rather tame) sex, a priceless supporting character in the form of Hal Borske's half wit hunchback Colin (whose idea of fine cuisine is amusing, to say the least) and a not particularly compelling "Who is the killer?" mystery, which some people may well figure out early on.
(It's worth noting, though, that one actor in this bunch had a pretty good career for himself after this: co-star Richard Romanus's next film was Scorsese's "Mean Streets"!) That doesn't mean, however, that they aren't entertaining in their own way.
Neil Flanagan, the star of Milligan's subsequent movie "Guru, the Mad Monk", is a riot as the aged, gnarly old lawyer.
In fact, one can even hear Milligan calling out directions in the background; when a character is set afire, he can be heard saying, "Get down!" Milligan himself supplied the costumes, having ran his own clothing store named Raffine.
The first gore film from Staten Island's own auteur..
Whether you love Andy Milligan's films or hate them everyone is in agreement; they are a genre unto themselves!
You know you are in some paralell universe in the opening minutes of this film when a mad killer attacks a couple having a picnic on a private island.
If you listen carefully during the murder scene you can even hear Andy Milligan's voice calling out "Cutting away, move!" to the actors!
Andy knew that plot had a long white beard well before 1969 so he loaded his movie was sado-masochism, marital rape, homosexual incest, a hooded killer that you'd have to be deaf and blind not to know was stalking you, and of course the bargain basement gore that made him so (in)famous to the people who gathered at drive-ins to watch his movies.
THE GHASTLY ONES was his first gore film.
Haal Borske,a writer and director of several plays, plays the first of many idiot characters in Andy's films.
His character of Colin appears to have been the killer in the opening scenes and he looks perfectly normal (apart from being a total sociopath, that is) yet later in the film he has becomes a hunchbacked, snaggletoothed halfwit who eats raw meat.
Maggie Rogers also appears in SEEDS OF SIN and TORTURE DUNGEON and her acting is actually several notches above what is expected in a Milligan film.
Bloody scenes include a pitchfork to the throat, a man cut in half with a bandsaw, a hand chopped off, a head in a roasting pan and wait'll you see what happens to the killer at the end!
Andy remade this movie a few years later as LEGACY OF BLOOD with a different cast but the same plot and effects.
To further confuse matters there is another movie called LEGACY OF BLOOD that stars John Carradine, Faith Domergue and Rex Reason that offers a similar plot but more sex and better effects.
Don't worry it will be impossible for you to confuse these movies; an Andy Milligan film is like no other.
The Ghastly Ones could have been better if the quality of the film was better but still better then other films of the time like Schoolgirls In Chains..
Now, this is the type of wonderfully bad B-Movie I like - It's glorious.
Shaky camera work, terrible direction, the acting ranges from poor to average, and the special effects at times are laughable.
Neil Flanagan who played Lawyer Dobbs is obviously much younger than his portrayed character, though this didn't stop him from doing his best with the part, even though the makeup people only covered his face in white talcum powder and put a raggedy old scarf over his head, to make him ancient.What little budget they had for the film was spent on the few 1800's dresses.
However, when they get frisky, especially Vicky (played pretty decently by Anne Linden), then they take to wearing see-through nylon teddy's.The most endearing thing about the film is the feeling the actors being real-life friends who had an idea to make a movie.This isn't the best but it does have heart.
At least worth a viewing for all the lovers of bad movies.
I have seen patchworks by some very bad sleaze directors in my day, but talentless hack Andy Milligan takes the cake...
his movies make Ed Wood's films look like Alfred Hitchcock's.
A fine example as to why Andy Milligan is regarded as one of the worst director's of all time.
Three sisters travel to their late father's mansion where they are to spend three nights together with their respective husbands, before they are eligible to hear the will (read to them by a man wearing make-up to rival Ramses' from Blood Feast (1963)).
Also there are the two housekeepers, Martha (Veronica Radburn) and Ruth (Maggie Rogers), and Martha's deformed and dim-witted son Colin (Hal Borske), who we see murder two people at the beginning of the film.
After a night of pompous partying, one of the couples, Veronica (Eileen Hayes) and Bill (Don Williams), find a dead rabbit in their bed (which was previously seen being eaten alive by Colin) with a note attached reading 'blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit."Directed by exploitation and horror hack Andy Milligan, The Ghastly Ones (titled Blood Rites in the UK and placed on the Video Nasty list) is a fine example as to why he is considered one of the worst directors of all time, commonly placed in the same category of Edward D.
He began his career in small-time off- Broadway production during the 1950's, and his experience in that medium is evident here as, unlike most trashy horror films, the film is almost unbearably wordy, as the main characters have their mundane conversations between the brief moments of gore.
Saying that, I would much rather be listening to conversation than watching overlong stalking scenes or disco dancing which was so prevalent as running-time-filler in Grindhouse movies.However, the movie is a massive bore, and even with the slender running- time of 70 minutes, I checked how long there was remaining at least three or four times.
The awful, clunky camera-work, added to the fact that the film stock was so poor I could barely make out faces, gave me a headache.
When the moments of inevitable gore come, the film is given a little relief, as the scenes of pitch-fork impaling and disembowelment are so bad it does give the film a little charm.
It was banned outright and never submitted again for release.As The Ghastly Ones, it was supposedly a hit with the horror hungry denizens of New York City's famed 42nd Street Grindhouse circuit.
If you are looking for some bloody horror, then you will find it in this film.Unfortunately to see the developmentally disabled Colin (Hal Borske) chomp down on a live rabbit, you have to put up with shaky 16mm camera work that makes Ed Wood look positively marvelous.Three sisters are to spend three days in the family homestead with their husbands before the old man's money is disbursed.
I saw this film purely based on the fact that it was on the DPP Video Nasty list, and while I'm glad I saw it because it's now 'another Video Nasty down' - on its own merits, Andy Milligan's film really isn't worth bothering with.
The film was obviously shot on an extremely low budget, and that has translated into the script; as Blood Rites works on an idea often seen in horror cinema, and doesn't do anything new with it.
For most of the film, nothing happens; and then when we finally get down to the scenes that justify the movie being banned, they're so amateurish and silly that they're impossible to take seriously on any level.
It's a very good thing that this movie doesn't have a very long running time as otherwise it could have been used as a particularly nasty method of torture.
Basically, Blood Rites isn't worth seeing and I personally can see no reason to recommend it.
This movie is terrible, but in a "so bad, it's good" kind of way.
In order to qualify for their inheritance, three sisters and their husbands must spend three nights of married bliss in their creepy ancestral home on Crenshaw Island, which is staffed by two old-maids and a mentally challenged (and dentally-challenged) hunchback; in time-honoured tradition, this cheesy set-up results in several gruesome murders.Staten Island splatter-movie pioneer Andy Milligan threw this hackneyed 16mm mess together in 1968 for a budget of around $10,000 and unsurprisingly the result is amateurish in the extreme, with dreadful hand-held camera-work, lousy acting, enthusiastic but rudimentary gore on a par with the worst work of fellow gore legend H.G. Lewis, and a thoroughly unconvincing Victorian setting (it might take place around the early 1900s, but the dialogue and hairstyles suggest otherwise).The period setting of the piece does however allow Milligan to fully indulge in his passion for dressmaking, and a lot more time and attention was clearly spent on his costumes than on either the script or effects.
During the film's many drawn out scenes of dull conversation, viewers get plenty of opportunity to admire Andy's prowess with needle and thread, but unless you're a seamstress into splatter, or a tailor who digs trash, then I doubt that this particular aspect of the film will be of much interest.In fact, save for the enjoyably bad death scenes, a spot of dead rabbit munching, and three pairs of boobies, there is virtually nothing to recommend The Ghastly Ones (unless, like me, you're determined to watch all of the official UK video nasties no matter how bad they are)..
THE GHASTLY ONES is a brainboiler of a cheap horror film.
The plot involves three sisters and their husbands travelling to their isolated childhood home to hear the reading of their late father's will, but someone is willing to kill to keep the money all to themselves.
Director/producer Andy Milligan attempts a 1905 setting for his film despite something like $20.00 for a budget, although its highly unlikely that women from that era wore see-through black negligees to bed.
If you're looking for a laughable, confused mess, go with THE GHASTLY ONES.
If you want a more understandable film that offers characters whose motives are revealed during the course of the story, go with LEGACY OF HORROR.
The scene where he sits in his dank basement room, battering a teddy bear while grunting the word "stupid" over and over is more chilling than a dozen disembowelings--something that I think Milligan was not conscious of.
Ghastly Ones, The (1968) 1/2 (out of 4) Three couples spend the night in an old dark house so that they can collect an inheritance but a killer is running loose.
This is my first Andy Milligan film and it's really no worse than countless other exploitation films that were out at the time.
Everything about the film is bad, especially the sex scenes, which are probably the worst I've ever seen in a movie.
Quite simply one of the worst horror films ever made.
Terribly directed film by the "legendary" Andy Milligan.
He was known for making no budget horror films with threadbare scripts, terrible actors (most of who never made another movie) and gore effects that are so bad you won't believe what you're seeing.
The films aren't bad enough to be good (like Ed Wood films) and the acting and gore is just laughable.Anyways this film is, as I said, terribly directed.
Most of the film is shot in tight closeups--probably to cover up the cheap sets.
Still this is a bad film with terrible direction, threadbare sets and gore that is so lousy it staggers the imagination.
An enjoyable gorefest from trash master Andy Milligan..
I remember reading Stephen King's book "Danse Macabre" about horror movies and this famous writer totally trashed this film.He called it "the work of morons with cameras" or something like that.I wouldn't go so far to call "The Ghastly Ones" a masterpiece,but I found it immensely enjoyable.Of course the acting is rather bad and the budget is extremely low,but the gore scenes are amazing.I loved especially the scene when one guy is butchered in the cellar and the amateurish gore frenzy during the climax.Though the production is rough from beginning to end you can sense a psychosis of sorts in the scenes of bloodletting.The hooded killer really rips into his victims after he's trapped them.The hunchback is an extremely funny and grotesque character.I laughed my ass off when he killed a rabbit.Check out this cheap and gory horror,if you like low-budget grindhouse fare..
The Ghastly Ones (1968) is a shocking film.Still banned in the United Kingdom to this day, the film remains a spectacular horror story.
Forgotten B-movie is worth a look.
Andy Milligan was a film maker out of Staten Island New York who made films of very low quality but managed to be entertainig anyway.
Ghastly Ones has a great premise about three sisters who go to a private island for the reading of their father's will.
The camera work and photography damage the film from living up to it's potential.
Still Ghastly Ones is worth a look!!.
Staten Island filmmaker Andy Milligan is well known in the horror community for being an even worse director than Ed Wood.
In "The Ghastly Ones" we basically have three bickering couples traveling to their childhood home (located on a conveniently secluded island) to collect an inheritance.
The film is in such bad shape that it looks like someone just ran it through a dishwasher, the sound is terrible, the dialog is otherworldly bad, there's some primitive mannequin gore (plus some dismemberments and guts) and it's technically inept in every possible way it can be inept.
But is it enjoyable in a bad movie kind of way?
The film opens on an island (near Milligan's Staten Island home) where two lovers are walking along with a massive parasol seemingly made from paper, at one point he gives her the top of a weed as a gift.
Out of nowhere Colin (Hal Borske) a retarded hunchback pops up and kills both of them for no reason at all.
After the opening credits which are joined by some of the worst headache inducing music I have ever heard, at least it got me used to it as it's used constantly throughout the film, we are introduced to three couples.
Dobbs informs them that they must spend three days in their childhood home 'Crenshaw House' and fill it with 'sexual harmony and marital love' that it had never known because of the strained relationship between their father and mother.
Later on that night whats left of the dead rabbit is found in one of the couples beds with a note that says 'blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit'.
This starts a series of events which end in gruesome murder and reveals dark family secrets.Co-written, photographed and directed by the talentless Andy Milligan.
Sound, you can barely hear what characters are saying and certain scenes don't have any sound effects plus at certain points you can hear Milligan shouting out orders to his actors, oh and there's a constant hiss on the soundtrack throughout as well.
The very un-special effects, Colin pokes someones eye out in the opening sequence, it's the size of a tennis ball, the part where someone is tied down and has his stomach opened up with a saw looks really awful as are the various hands and legs that are chopped off.
Photography, Milligan has absolutely no idea how to stage or film a scene, he regularly cuts the top, bottom or sides of peoples heads and faces off the screen and his camera jerks and shakes around like it's operated by someone who is constantly tripping over.
There is also at least one scene so badly thought out and filmed that a crew member is seen.
The script, if there was one, credited to both Milligan and Hal Sherwood (It took two people to write this!?) is all over the place and is incredibly stupid.
The only good thing I can think of saying is that the costumes look reasonable, for the time period it's meant to be set in.
Three sisters and their husbands convene on Crenshaw Island for the reading of the family will.
A real backyard effort, literally, since the $8,000 horror was shot on Staten Island property owned by Milligan at the time.
Of course, you're better off filming at home when you set your actors on fire and splatter gore all over the walls.
During one nasty murder, Milligan's voice can be heard on the soundtrack as he gives direction.
Except for Hal Borske's sympathetic portrayal of an abused hunchback, the acting is comically bad. |
tt0183790 | A Knight's Tale | (As it was said, may contain SPOILERS. Well, I guess.. that's ME, as this is my favorite movie and my Favorite Actor died at my same age of 28, HEATH LEDGER)The film takes place in the medieval times and contains many anachronisms, as it contains music and wordings that do not fit those times.It started with 3 faithful & loyal squires: Roland (Mark Addy), Wat (Alan Tudyk) and William (Heath Ledger). As they are on their way to Victory, all 4 together with the Knight took a little rest and when Roland came to his lord (their knight) he found out that he is no longer breathing and is already dead. They no longer have the chance to participate in the final round of Jousting, (a sport during the Medieval times).William took the armor vest and wore it to join the jousting, where he won consecutively. Together with the 2 squires, he trained himself the use of Sword and Lance as it may be his edge for such game.When they are on their way to a place were there is a Jousting and Sword competition, they encountered a writer, Geoffrey Chaucer. He joined the three and he stood as the Herald of Sir Ulrich Von Lichtenstein from Gelderland, the name William has adopted to pose as a nobleman.Geoff presented Ulrich to the panel and told them that Sir Ulrich will compete for Sword and Jousting.As Ulrich was wandering around that area, singing, he saw a beautiful lady (Shannyn Sossamon)and he followed her. Insisting for her name, the lady asked if he would care if she is ugly. Ulrich was speechless.Ulrich had just finished his first jousting round, when a man approached him and he said that he was there because of Ulrich's Herald. He found out that Geoff had a serious gambling problem. He was unclothed by two men as his punishment. Ulrich asked the two men to release him and give him back his clothes and repay them after the game. They then released Geoff and on their way out, Geoff said that he actually is a writer, he lied before and has gambling issues. Ulrich started to compete with the sword just after they talked. People were so impressed, as he gains consecutive wins. He's proclaimed a Sword Champ.Prepared for another jousting, Sir Ulrich pointed to Geoff the woman he liked, it's the woman he saw while he was roaming in the crowded area. Geoff commented that Ulrich is so ambitious and is going too far now.William persists to ask the lady her name. The lady didn't say her name, instead she said, "You Persist?" Another knight was sitting beside the lady, Count Adhemar (Rufus Sewell) and humiliated him about the suit of armor Ulrich was wearing and of how Ulrich says his name. Ulrich was pissed, he left and went on to his game.During one of his games, he faced the Black Prince of Wales and hit him with 2 points. Realizing that the competitor belongs to royal blood, Ulrich calls it a draw and spared Prince Edward.He impressed the crowd with his fearless fight and merciful judgment. Even Count Adhemar and his Herald were impressed.From one of his games, he had a very strong hit on the chest and his vest needs to be fixed. They went to several blacksmiths, but the blacksmiths asks for a "money-down-to-fix". One of the blacksmiths suggested they try approaching the Lady Farrier just next to them and see what she can do.Kate, the Lady Farrier, also refused and said that she doesn't work for free, but when she felt that she was underestimated by the other blacksmiths, she took Ulrich's vest and successfully fixed it.Before the game starts with Count Adhemar as his contender, the lady's maid approached William and said she had a message from the lady. The lady wished to tell William that her name is Lady Jocelyn and handed over a piece of cloth. William accepted it gratefully and was inspired. With two consecutive nice hits to Count Adhemar, and Adhemar not hitting Ulrich, he decided to hit Ulrich on the face and flash of William's memory went on during his childhood with his father, wishing that one day he'll change the stars and he'll be a knight.When the game ended, Count Adhemar picked up the piece of cloth that Ulrich had dropped. Adhemar handed back the cloth to Lady Jocelyn and she left without a word.After winning, Ulrich paid Geoff's penalty to Simon the Summoner (Steven O'Donnell) and Peter the Pardoner (Jonathan Slinger) from Rouen.Kate commented that the armor which Ulrich was wearing was not originally made for him, and she offered to make new armor. Ulrich asked how much would it cost. She said it would cost nothing, but instead take her as far as Paris. Ulrich refused and said that they walk alone, then asked her to take her gold (a payment for the vest fix).As they were packing up their stuff, Geoff suggested to them that they should stay and Ulrich should attend the dance party. Ulrich and Geoff had an argument about whether he should attend or not. Minutes after, Lady Jocelyn's maiden approached them and ask what color and kind of tunic Ulrich will wear in the dance party. As Geoff answered that they wouldn't be attending, Ulrich blocked Geoff and said don't speak of things he doesn't understand. Ulrich asked Roland what tunic he will wear tonight. Roland, shocked, described the attire based on the tent that he is facing. Then the maiden left. Ulrich dejectedly said he couldn't dance. All 5 of them, Kate, Geoff, Wat, Roland and Ulrich went to a place where they can work on Ulrich's Tunic and Dance problem. Kate and Geoff helped teach the dance. Wat, being bullied by Geoff as always, became Ulrich's partner during the practice, while Roland fixes the tunic.Roland managed to make the tunic while William learns the steps. Ulrich attended the gathering. He and Lady Jocelyn both wore green colored attires. They dance similar to a Farandol but with lots of differences, (especially modern moves. OST- Golden Years by David Bowie) which makes the scenario anachronism.Jousting took place again the next day were Count Alemar is to face the Black Prince of Wales: Prince Edward as his opponent. Alemar calls it a draw. Just to impress the crowd. Ulrich on the other hand, though he was informed that he will be fighting against Prince Edward for the second time, decides to fight him anyway. Wat, Ronald and Geoff told Ulrich about this but Ulrich still went on with the fight and hit Prince Edward squarely in the chest with 2 points. Edward loses the game. Geoff approach Ulrich and ask if he knows what he's doing. Ulrich told Geoff that Edward is taking the risk and is putting himself to danger and told Edward that he knows that he is a prince. Edward appeared stunned and wondered why Ulrich would still go on even if he knew what he is. Ulrich said that it is not in him to withdraw. "But it happens" added Prince Edward. Sir Ulrich was named Jousting Champion. But William/Ulrich still has the feeling of a 2nd placer as Count Alemar withdraws and he did not defeat him in a Joust.They went through different jousting competitions and they couldn't find Count Alemar. Unknown by them, count Alemar went to Gelderland to research Sir Ulrich's genealogy. He failed to see Ulrich's name on the painting as he doesn't exist. He found out that Ulrich is a fraud.Ulrich sent a sweet letter that was composed by him, Kate, Wat, Ronald and Geoff writing it for Lady Jocelyn and asking if she would come to Paris.Jocelyn got the letter, had tears in her eyes and Wat asked if she has something for his master in return. Jocelyn smiled.Wat, going back to were Ulrich and the rest were, said that Jocelyn is going to Paris with them. Sir Ulrich asked if she gave something in return. Wat kissed William on the lips and William shouted YES. He knew that Lady Jocelyn just send him the kiss. HE was so HAPPY!In Paris, Ulrich/William meets w/ Jocelyn in a church, where she tells him that if he truly loved her, he would lose. Ulrich tells her that's nuts. The next day at the jousting tournament, however, Ulrich intentionally loses all his matches...until, that is, Jocelyn sends word that if he loves her, he'll not lose another match & will win the tournament...which he does. That nite Jocelyn tells him that she knows his friends sometimes call him William, but she doesn't care what his name is. She crawls into bed w/ him, & tho he's hurt from the losses earlier that day, they seem to be able to get the deed done. .On their way to London, William had a flashback of a childhood memory. It was a time when he and his father were on their way to London on a boat. It was at that time that young William came to the attention of the knight who apprenticed him. He's torn between wanting to go w/ the knight & not wanting to leave his father. His father gives him his blessing & tells him all he has to do to find his way back is to follow his feet.Now that they are in London, Geoff informed Ulrich (William) that Count Alemar is on the list to compete. Ulrich and Alemar saw each other and Count Alemar said that Lady Jocelyn will be his bride no matter what it takes.That night Ulrich, on his horse, roams around the area while it is raining when he sees a little girl playing with a stick like it was her lance. The little girl told Ulrich that he was her favorite knight and she wondered why Ulrich is roaming in that area. Ulrich told the little girl that he used to live there and he asks the little girl if he knows a man who looks like a knight that had lived just around the other corner, but probably died long ago, possibly before she was born. The little girl told Ulrich that she also lives there and she knows the man Ulrich is pertaining to. She said that the man still lives there, but is blind and been there for years.Ulrich, with his curiosity went to that place and saw an old man fixing a fisherman's net. John Thatcher (William's Father) heard a squeak from the stairs and asked "if somebody is there?" He thought that the person on the stairs was the owner of the net and advised him to come back tomorrow as he is not yet done with it. Then, John Thatcher asked again, "Who Are You?". Ulrich answered "A Knight" and said that he is Ulrich. John said that he knew him as his name is being chanted in the stadium. John asked what business he has there. Ulrich said that he has a message for John coming from his son. John was stunned. He asked him to come inside and asked for his son's message. Ulrich said that "Your son has changed his stars". With teary eyes, John has recognized this phrase and asked if his son has followed his feet. Ulrich answered "YES". And he knew that the knight standing in front of him, the one with whom he is now speaking, is his SON WILLIAM. They hugged each other and cried.They had dinner and William mentioned that he has a girlfriend. His father told him that he wants to meet her. But Ulrich changed the topic to the water dripping from the roof. William fixes the leak. Unknown to him, Count Alemar has followed him and confirmed that he is a fraud and doesn't belong to a Royal line. In the morning, Ulrich is so happy that he told Wat, Ronald and Kate that he has spoken with his father and it was a great time in his life.Geoff and Jocelyn approach. The four of them appear as if someone has died. William asks why they are sad. Geoff and Jocelyn tell William that people knew already who he was and they are waiting for him to be arrested and put in the stocks.All were shocked with the terrible news and Ronald suggested packing their things up. William refused and asked Lady Jocelyn what she thinks. Lady Jocelyn suggested to RUN and do it for LOVE, instead of seeing him being placed in the stocks.Ronald, Kate, Wat and Geoff agreed with Lady Jocelyn. But furious William firmly refused and said "I'M A KNIGHT", indicating that I Knight would not be so cowardly.Ronald commented that everything must be put to an end. They prepared Ulrich and they went to the game. Officers approached them and told William that he should remove himself from the game of honor. But William answered that he is there to compete. They said that he is here to be arrested. And he was arrested and was put in jail.Count Alemar visited William and reiterates the words he keeps on saying while he punches him. With every punch he says "YOU HAVE BEEN WEIGHED", "YOU HAVE BEEN MEASURED" "AND YOU HAVE BEEN FOUND WANTING". Then with a last punch on the stomach, Count Alemar leaves.The next day, William is placed in the stocks and there's one boy who slapps his head as everyone applaudes what the boy has done.Ronald, Wat, Kate and Geoff stand by his side and don'tt leave him. 2 men with hoods stand there in the audience and when they reveal their faces. the people find out that it is the Black Prince of Wales, Prince Edward. He approaches William and tells him how William's men love him and if he knew nothing else about him that would be enough. He tells the guards to release William and ask how he can repay the kindness William once showed him. He asks William to kneel. Prince Edward takes his sword and proclaimes William, SIR William.Applause went on and Prince Edward asks William if he is fit to compete. He said that he can prepare for his opponent. Sir William, officially the new knight, thanked his lord, Prince Edward.The Final battle between Sir William and Count Alemar has come. Alemar cheats by placing a sharp tip on his lance. They rode and Count Alemar hit William on the right side of his chest. The tipped lance was left in his chest and Ronald had to pull it out. Wat and Geoff found out that Alemar is cheating. William is severely injured by the 1st attack. And with much pain in his chest, he dropped his lance and was hit again for the 2nd time by Count Alemar. Ronald said that the only way to win the game is un-horse him or to kill him.Being in so much pain, he asked Kate to remove his Armor Vest so he can breathe well. He asked her not to put it back again. Kate looks at Ronald and he agreed. He couldn't carry the lance anymore so he asked Wat to tie the lance on his arm. Wat looks at Ronald again and he said do whatever William says. When the game is about to start, Geoff made a heartfelt introduction for William,from the Prince's viewing box, to buy him time to get the lance lashed to his arm, as the joust was about to start and Will was not yet ready. Geoff introduced him as the son of John Thatcher and with his official title, everybody knew that he is Sir William Thatcher. Wat told William that everybody heard Williams name including his father. Geoff said "Godspeed William".William with no vest and a a lance tied to his arm, rode on his horse and fought with Count Alemar. When he is about to reach Count Alemar, he shouted "WILLIAM" and hit Alemar squarely in the chest, bringing him down off his horse. Count Alemar fell and had a vision of himself flat on his back on the ground, with the 5 people he hates. Wat stood above him saying "HE HAS BEEN WEIGHED", then comes Ronald saying "YOU HAVE BEEN MEASURED", then Kate said "AND YOU ABSOLUTELY" Geoff came above him and added "HAVE BEEN FOUND WANTING" finally, William completed the circle saying WELCOME TO THE NEW WORLD. GOD SAVE YOU, IF IT'S THE RIGHT THING TO DO. Then they left him.Victoriously, William and his friends rejoiced. His father is so pleased and so is Prince Edward. Lady Jocelyn is so proud of him.The story ends where Ronald, Kate, Geoff and Wat were leaning forward at the center of the stadium as Geoff is thinking about writing a story about everything that had happened, bullying Wat "Maybe Not Yours".End"In Memory of Heath Ledger" | comedy, historical, romantic, flashback | train | imdb | null |
tt0386820 | Terkel i knibe | Terkel is in 6th grade at a secondary school together with his best friend Jason, who carries an iron pipe with him at all times even though he keeps on dropping it and curses about it. Terkel and Jason are playing a Game Boy in the schoolyard of Chestnutlane one day when a strange man in a green panda sweater approaches them. The man, Justin (Danish: Gunnar Bjerre), tells Terkel that he has sat on a spider. "Nothing to worry about. They're just jeans. They can be washed." Terkel says.
Terkel's teacher gets fatally run over (much to the rejoice of the class), and the class's new teacher is the strange Justin. Terkel's parents Sheila and Leon get married and the two "bad boys" in his class, Nigel and Saki, manipulate Terkel to steal beer for them at the party. When Terkel's short-tempered, alcoholic and violent uncle Stuart Stardust notices, he beats up Nigel (Danish: Sten) (which also means "stone" in Norse) and Saki, for which they blame Terkel, so they begin bullying him, but no-one seems to want to help him.
One day the overweight girl in the class, Doris (Danish: Fede Dorit ("Fede" means "Fat"), approaches Terkel with a love letter. When Nigel and Saki notice, they start teasing the two of them, calling them a couple. Terkel is torn: he wants to defend Doris, but instead, because he'd rather save face in front of the cool kids, he says "No, there's no way I love that fat cow!" Doris gets so upset that she jumps out the window from the fourth floor and dies (as the school principal says: "let's hope that fat cow didn't land on anyone's head down there").
After that Terkel starts receiving death threats: on his desk, painted on the ceiling of his room, on a stone which breaks his window, in his notebook... His parents aren't of any help – his chainsmoking mother tells him about all the diseases he might develop in strange ways (like getting SARS from wet wood) and his father only seems capable of one word: "No".
One day, Justin takes his class for a school trip where they are going to study the salamanders. Terkel doesn't want to go and begs his parents to let him stay at home. On the bus Nigel and Saki invite Terkel to sit down with them, he does so and Jason becomes angry. During the bus trip Justin sings a song about hard life. When they get to the forest, where they are going to study the salamanders, Nigel and Saki want him to sleep in their tent – he does. He gets a shock later when Saki stumbles into the tent with a black eye, telling him that Jason beat him up. Terkel thinks that Jason is acting strangely aloof, and Nigel tells him that Doris was Jason's sister.
Terkel is terrified, and thinks that all the death threats were from Jason, because he made his sister commit suicide. As they're going to bed, Terkel finds a dead cat in his sleeping bag and he receives a text message from Jason's phone which says "I'm coming to kill you". Nigel and Saki advise Terkel to tell Justin, which he does. He wants to be safe from Jason, so Terkel insists that Justin come with him into the woods where he explains everything. Then he says "I'm gonna call Jason right now and say that I have told you everything". Justin protests but Terkel does so and to his horror, he hears ringing sounds coming from Justin's pocket. The plot unravels, and it turns out all the death threats and messages had been from Justin as a revenge for Terkel sitting on the spider when they first met. Terkel flees, and a thrilling race through the woods commences. Just as Justin has Terkel cornered, he is saved in the nick of time by Jason, who finally puts his iron bar to use. During the struggle the pipe is smashed into Justin's head presumably killing him. Terkel and Jason go away in the sunset once again friends, only to be scared by the narrator and music teacher Arne who wears a hockey mask and a chainsaw. The camera moves back and shows the audience that Justin is still alive.
The final credits include some outtake/blooper scenes, such as, Terkel's father being unable to remember his lines: "No". | revenge, cult, violence, humor | train | wikipedia | Terkel i Knibe is a great movie.
All you need to do is to change the language and the story, setting and lines will work in any western country.The film is about Terkel and his complicated life.
It's an animation about kids, however I would look upon this as more of an adult movie.
I think it would be funnier for teenagers and enlightening for adults.The animations are great.
The voice-job was great on the Norwegian version and I expect nothing less of the Danish one.The score is good.
The songs in the movie are also good and funny.Terkel i knibe is a good movie about that's funny, yet serious if you look deeper.
Delightfully twisted, like a danish South Park.
What got me watching this movie was the advertisement that this movie is like South Park directed by Tim Burton.
The movie deals with elementary school kids with anarchistic humour involving lots of comical violence, cursing, bodily functions and bizarre incidents that make so many, including me, loving that show.
Also this movie.As for Tim Burton, he directs visually impressive and original movies, that deal with a character, that doesn't quite fit the surrounding world.
At least in the Evil Dead days Raimi was famous for enjoying both torturing his actors while shooting and enjoying a lot of violent humour inspired by the Three Stooges.So it was a very funny movie.
It wasn't actually a very original one, the key mystery is way too easy to figure out, but I was laughing too hard at things like a fork in the eye, a sledgehammer to the crotch and biting a kid's ear off in a battle, to really be bothered by it.
Even the South Park boys would be jealous.**** The best part: Instead of the best scene, I'd like to describe my favorite character.
Movies like Terkel i knibe.
Anders Matthesen has done a great writing job and completely captures the atmosphere of a dysfunctional school.Every positive review so far has commented on how funny the movie is, and I agree completely.
This movie was way more disturbing than I expected, but that's a good thing.
This is a movie you should see as soon as possible - there's really nothing like it.Watch "Torkel" right now!.
A film that feels like a cross between a nerve-rackingly suspenseful after-school special and an R-rated Disney musical, it's tale of adolescent angst and suburban paranoia varies loosely between tones of high-energy recklessness, nerve-rattling tension and jocular naughtiness.
Being perpetually stalked by two well-dressed, bawdy schoolyard bullies (one, a verminous schoolboy that seems to be a blonde mop-topped Ratzo Rizzo mended into an uber-confident junior-high bad-boy; the other, a portly, none-too-bright sidekick that looks like a "Sopranos" castoff), he always has to keep checking over his shoulder to see when they're going to strike next.Not that home-life provides much solace; inside the walls of his suburban pad, his family unit seems like a Monty Python sketch of mild domestic dysfunction.
Let's not forget to mention the comically drunken, not-so-sane uncle (perpetually donning a sea captain outfit) who spews endless string of wildly inappropriate, booze-tingled comments (many of which I can't repeat here) to those he supposedly means to help.His only pal seems to be Jason, a constantly profane, sullen, rap-obsessed confidant, who always carries an iron pipe in his backpack, because, well, you never know when you might need it in the 'burbs.As Jason continues to grow distant, the schoolyard bullies ratchet up their torment and his family becomes increasingly unsympathetic and remote, Terkel's only chance at personal redemption seems to be through his new homeroom teacher, a joyful, often-crooning embodiment of the sunshine-liberal spirit that offers a much-needed ray of light to Terkel's otherwise unwelcoming world.However, Terkel starts receiving anonymous death threats out of nowhere, something that increases our anti-hero's already tense plight through the dangerous halls of his suburban junior high.And toss in a lot of remarkably upbeat and often very naughty musical numbers (including the most lewdly joyful and potty-mouthed romantic anthem ever captured in a cartoon, a dynamic Danish rap sequence and a nightmarish episode that cleverly riffs on Michael Jackson's "Thriller"), a lollipop-colored visual design with a few ornery sight gags, and plenty of very intense moments of rampant neurosis and paranoia for it's hapless anti-hero, and that gives you "Terkel in Trouble", one that will make you, if all things, glad you're no longer thirteen.Suburban angst tales are hardly innovative territory for storytelling, but this one is an especially inspired and gaudy one: clearly the filmmakers want their audiences to both look in awe and squirm in their seats, overwhelmingly enjoying it and feeling uncomfortable for doing so at the same time, and they often succeed in both.
Likely it will seem both odd and oddly familiar for the American viewer, as those weaned on "South Park" and "The Simpsons" will likely be confounded by its joyful idiosyncrasies as well as giddily amused by its array of jokingly miserable characters.The setting of an anonymous western Suburb, populated with cruel, spoiled and unscrupulous beings that remain completely distant to those they view as friends and family but get belligerently compassion when protecting them from harm, forms a central identity that's both cynical and warmly ironic, a mixture American audiences have come to know very well.
In short, it's portrayal of familiar themes could only be told with a distinctly Scandinavian-bad-boy personality.Given, it's balance of bright light and darkness doesn't always succeed, as some scenes that seemingly want us to laugh at events involving teen suicide and child abuse just feel downright sour and snide, even by the standards of the film's often enduringly nasty charm.
And the film occasionally gets a little too gruesome for it's own good, including Terkel's sisters increasingly bizarre series of brutal pratfalls, a previously mentioned teen suicide sequence and his uncle's drunken, brutal confrontation with Terkel's unforgiving bullies after Terkel ignites a failed beer bust, to name a few (and you can make sure that Jason's iron pipe doesn't go unused).But with a film that naturally likes to bask in a motley, playful naughtiness, "Terkel in Trouble" is often brazenly splendid.
With three directors and voiced completely (with an amusingly tongue-in-cheek and shape shifting poise) by stand-up comedian Anders Matthesson, "Terkel in Trouble" is an achievement, not only for being the landmark CGI-cartoon for it's native Denmark but also melding the idea of a "kids" movie to a straight-forward, non-condescending approach that happily lets them indulge in their joyfully vulgar pleasures rather than forcing them to endure aloof, stilted and often foolish preaching.
I've seen the movie 'cause i like twisted computer graphic movies, and i can say i've laughed a lot!
Terkel end his friends are funny, the cartoon is like a mix of nasty moments inspired by great and famous series like "The Simpsons" or "South Park".
But who cares about the plot when you can see funny moments a LOT of dirty language (just hear the old sailor, the uncle of Terkel...
This is a fresh and funny movie, ABSOLUTELY NOT for children!.
The first Danish 100% computer-animated feature, and it's a deserved hit!From the opening credits, a bullseye parody of Kyle Cooper's classic title sequence from SE7EN, the film hits a note far away from your usual animated fluff, be it from Disney, Pixar or anywhere else, for that matter.
If Tim Burton and The Farrelly Brothers directed South Park, it would look something like this.
Adapted from Anders Matthesen and Mette Heeno from Matthesen's radio play, it's a paperthin story of sixth-grader Terkel, who receives death threats and has trouble with a couple of bullies at school.
But what it lacks in story, it compensates for with inventive CGI animation despite its low budget (more Jimmy Neutron than Finding Nemo), brilliant voice characterizations by Matthesen (who does all the voices), and a sharp, anarchic, non-PC and absolutely hilarious sense of humor.
This is the best animated movie ever.
I love the dark story hidden in a child looking animation.
The rough danish humor combined with childish look makes this movie to a masterpiece.
If you are expecting a lame child movie then you will get surprised.
But all these dark sides becomes okay when the movie has these innocent child looking characters, and this makes it to a funny comedy instead of some tasteless crap.
This is a great movie.
This movie is great political, and has a deep point.
The songs they sing is really good work and is now very popular by kids in sixth grade (this movie is about sixth graders) but even if they don't get the point they seem to enjoy it and thats why this is a good family movie.
But i recommend you to See it and use the dubbing of your country and have a good time....
For those that don't know, this deals with Terkel, a pre-teen boy who has a fairly regular school- and home-life.
I don't know if a lot of non-Scandinavians are going to enjoy this as much as we do, and I can't comment on any other voice version than the Danish one(the multi-talent being the sole performer), which is marvelous.
Because it's doesn't matter after you know the content.Before I went to cinema to watch this, I'd read that it's something close to South Park.
With no subject and plot-line - just meaningless violence with no humor-touch.Don't waste your time.
It's difficult to know where to start the criticism - but how about the non-moving plot; the deeply grating, irritating characters (so he has a dad who only says one word - 'no' - ha ha very funny); the sick, repellent detail; the stupid, pitiful songs; the lack of any sort of sympathy.
As i was coming to this movie i expected a hilarious movie, the movie has gotten many positive reviews and generally just a lot of positive media coverage as well, also it has grossed very high for a danish movie, but i have to say i was dissapointed at how much lack the movie has of a real meaning, it feels sometime empty and build only on the brilliant usage of the danish language, which was good, but not funny in the way i had expected.Anders Matthesen is one of the highest rated standup comedians in Denmark, and naturally he was bound to make a real movie at some point, well here it is, and it even takes full use of one of "Anden's" famous characters, Uncle Stewart, however, despite a good background for the movie, i was somehow dissapointed, the humour, as i had expected to be laughing to dead over this, i wasn't, instead i only found myself laughing once.
So basically i found the movie dissapointing becauase it was based on how you liked the humour, and as i didn't laugh much the story seemed rather empty, i did however enjoy the fantastic use of the danish language, that was perfect, all kind of slang, every little phrase of the danish language, natural as alternative, was used, it was great, and i'm every dane will think that watching this, while foreigners might have a problem.The directing itself is fine i guess, it's an animated movie so it doesn't really exist i feel, but there are some scenes where the "camera" is used in a nice alternative way.For the acting it's all Anders Matthesen, and yeah that is brilliant, he does voice for all the characters in the movie, which is a lot, and nowhere can you hear it's the same person doing it, just simply amazingly done.I base my vote on what i thought of the movie really, besides "Anden's" genius use of the danish language and the great way of using his voice differently from all characters was fantastic, but besides this the movie didn't get really get to me, when you base a movie so much on the humour you better make sure it works, and it probably does work a lot for many, but i just didn't find it funny, and that makes the story seem kinda empty, even though there was a lot of morale in it, it just didn't cut through becuase it was far from what the movie intended to do.4/10.
I liked it back then and it still has some nostalgic value today, because many of my friends still quote it so many years later.But after I got into animation on a higher level and began looking for details here and there and watched it again...
And without being a director myself, I think the story of a ysterious maniac stalking you could be an interesting story like some sort of cautionary tale.But I'm reading to much into it, because I know it's solely made to entertain and shock people, but among all the cruelty you'll also find hilarious moments and get some catchy songs with it.
Are you kidding!?This film is brilliant and utterly hysterical...Perhaps the English translation is not as witty or black as the Danish original?
Whilst most Hollywood animated features are fairly insipid & family friendly, this is most certainly an adult film.
lots of blood, bruises, & urine, the film reaches to a mature audience & actually manages to avoid being overly crass.No indeed, Terkel in Trouble maintains a dry & black sardonic humour without resorting to (too much) immature smut.Despite being an animated feature, the story isn't half bad.
The central character endures so much distress & turmoil that the audience genuinely feels for the little fellow.Possibly the ONLY let down of the whole film is the final twist where Terkel's stalker's motive is a little lame.
Bullies, ignorant parents, odd teachers, zombies, psychopaths and drunks all appear in this hilarious and gruesome animated film from Dennmark.
Wow. If that's how the Danes make family entertainment, I wonder how the adult movies are.
Poor little Terkel has a lot of problems, his parents barley show him any attention, his friend makes him watch slasher movies and he's begin bullied at school by two weirdos with paint ball guns.
This movie is great and funny in many way, but it's sort of south park-like humor makes it hard to watch for small children.
But teenagers and adults with a twisted sense of humor will probably enjoy it as much as I did..
So a movie like this would be a bullet proof exercise in Danish animation and humor.However.The style of the movie (animation-wise) is very much linked to the company behind it all."A Film".
All of them have this particular style.A great point to make about this movie is, that it displays a very good image of Danish humor among youngsters.
Children get's beaten up, drunk people are on a rage and parents are very little aware of what the f*ck their children are doing.All the characters are voiced - in Danish - by Anders Matthesen, and to see him do some of this stuff live, is - to be honest - a little bit scary.
It's like he has split personality, and of all the Danish comedians I know of, he is one of those in front, always pushing the envelope and crossing lines in what's funny and what isn't funny.'Terkel i knibe' - is one of those projects, along with the radio shows and live performances.
So of course, they had to make a movie about it.It's not the best full feature animation out there, but it certainly is one of the funniest.At least to this Dane..
Its so funny i cant stop with laugh.its funny to that is with the godfather,the Blair witch project etc.I like this movie but i have some questions about the movie like 1.That guy who wants to kill Terkel,he wants to kill Terkel because he has sit on a spider but he sent message's with death animals.And more.So thats is something.but it is funny.And like his mother is a slut, is dad says on everything no,and his sister have always pain:she gets two times a fork in her eye and she falls from the stairs etc.And a fat kid is in love on Terkel but Terkel call her names to protect himself against bully's.And then the girl jumps out of a window.If you don't like humor with a lots of obscenity and violence i recommoded you don't go see this movie..
Now, this is probably only the second time I've been so infuriated with a film that I felt the need the write something about it.
Normally, if a film is rubbish there are plenty of reviews that will back up my thoughts and I can feel better about myself.
I decided to give it a chance, being a fan of crude jokes and animation but I was severely let down on both points.
Now, I know I'm only talking about the English Version here, and I haven't seen the original (nor do I have any intention of doing so), but what the hell was Adrian Edmondson doing with Turkel's voice?
What's the point of having a film where, as an audience member, you can't sympathise or even feel anything for the main character?
It's like the whole thing was made by 12 and 13 year olds, who had eaten too much sweets and told to make a film about bullying with lots of swearing.
Short and to the point movie.
I liked the movie, but I'm disappointed that they removed some of the original lyrics and dialog from the radio play.
In general the characters are softened, probably to meet some R-rating since it's considered a teenage/kids story.The animations are a unique cartoon style really helps the to get the story/humor across.
The creative way they've worked the narrator into the story as a character works, but it's a heritage from the radio play.All in all a good story and you'll like it if you watch the movie before you hear the original radio play7/10 - the movie9/10 - the radio play |
tt4786282 | Lights Out | The film opens with Paul (Billy Burke) skyping with his son, Martin (Gabriel Bateman), late at night while he's at work at a mannequin factory. Martin tells his father that his mother, Sophie (Maria Bello), has been acting strangely lately. Paul tells Martin that things will get better. Paul's assistant, Esther (Lotta Losten) is locking up the warehouse. When she goes to turn off the lights in one of the rooms, a figure appears in the back of the room. She notices the figure and when she goes to turn the lights back on, it disappears. She turns the lights back off and the figure reappears. She turns the lights on and it disappears. She does this two more times and on the fourth time she turns off the lights, the figure appears right in front off her. She immediately turns the lights back on and goes to tell Paul.She goes to tell Paul about the figure. She interrupts him as he's in the middle of his skype call with his son, and tells him that she saw someone who then disappeared. He dismisses it and tells her to go on home. A little while later, he goes to lock up for the night. As he is about to leave, he remembers what Esther told him about seeing someone. So, he walks through the barely lit warehouse. Eventually, he comes across the same figure. It's crouched down a darkened area of the warehouse. It notices Paul and starts to get up. Just then, one of the lights above Paul turns off, because it's motion-detected. Paul swings his arms around the light to get it to come back on. It does and now the figure is closer to him then it originally was. Paul sees this and runs away.As he passes through a small patch of darkness, the figure claws his leg, sending him to a lit part of the ground with a bloody gash. He gets up and sees the figure in front of him, standing in the darkness. He notices that it's standing right at the edge of the ground where the darkness ends. He pieces together that it cannot travel in the light, but only in the dark. Paul takes off again, limping all the way back to his office. He locks the door and grabs a baseball bat. Suddenly, the lights start flickering and eventually go off, leaving him in the dark. The handle on the door starts to jiggle as the figure tries to get in. Eventually, the door opens up slightly. Paul prepares for it to attack, but he's suddenly pulled from behind into the dark. His mangled corpse is dropped off somewhere on the other side of the warehouse.A few days later, Martin is about to go to sleep when he hears what sounds like his mother talking to someone. He makes his way through the hallway to her room, where it appears that she is talking to someone in the dark bathroom. When Sophie sees Martin standing by her room, she says "I'm sorry. Did we wake you?" He begins to get scared, but Sophie tells him to go to sleep. He begins to walk back to his room. He looks back to see Sophie standing at the door of her room and also sees a creepy hand at the corner of the door as well. Martin runs back to his room and locks the door. He gets back into bed. A few seconds later, the door handle to his bedroom begins to jiggle.On the other side of town, Martin's sister, Rebecca (Teresa Palmer), is hanging out with her boyfriend, Bret (Alexander DiPersia). The next day, Martin is in the nurse's office after he falls asleep in class for the third time in a week. Since the school cannot get a hold of Sophie, they end up calling Rebecca down to the school. She and Bret meet with an official from Child Protective Services, who fills her in on what has been happening with Martin. It is revealed that Rebecca has a rocky relationship with her mother after her father abandoned her a few years before (Paul wasn't her real dad, but her step-dad). Rebecca goes to talk to Martin alone. He tells her that he hasn't been sleeping lately. Bret drives Rebecca and Martin to Sophie's.Bret stays in the car as Rebecca takes Martin to the house. As they are walking, Martin tells her that Sophie has been talking to someone named Diana. Rebecca stops walking and asks Martin where he heard that name. He tells her that he heard Mom say it. Rebecca tells Martin that Diana isn't real. That she's someone their mom made up. Sophie opens the front door and welcomes Rebecca and Martin inside. When Sophie asks why Martin is home so early from school, he tells her that Rebecca will tell her why. Martin heads up to his room to pack some clothes (unbeknownst to Rebecca). Rebecca gets into an argument with her mother when she finds out that Sophie has been neglecting to take her anti-depressants. Rebecca tells Sophie that she's taking Martin over to her place for a few nights, just as Martin walks up with his suitcase all ready to go. Sophie begins to cry and pleads with Rebecca to let Martin stay, but Rebecca takes Martin and goes to her place.Later that night at Rebecca's place, she wakes up to find Martin gone from her bed. She hears a scratching noise and figures it must be Martin. She looks to where the noise is coming from and sees the figure hunched over and scratching the floor near the door of the bedroom. Since Rebecca lives above a tattoo parlor, the light of the sign above the tattoo parlor shines on and off every ten or so seconds. Rebecca can see the figure whenever the light of the sign is off and then it disappears when the light comes back on. The figure notices that Rebecca is watching it. So, it disappears and then reappears standing up in front of Rebecca and as it charges towards her, it disappears as the light comes back on. Rebecca races to the light switch, just as the light of the sign turns off, but she is able to flip on the light switch to her bedroom in time. She looks around for Martin and finds him in the bathroom, sleeping in the bathtub with a flashlight on.The next day, after taking Martin to school, Rebecca and Bret go to Sophie's. Since Sophie is out running errands, Rebecca and Bret go inside. Rebecca heads upstairs where she comes across a box with information on Sophie and her past stint in a mental institution when she was a young girl. When Sophie was in the institution, she met a girl named Diana, who had a rare skin disorder and could not go out into the light. The doctors tried an experimental procedure on Diana with a bunch of lights, which caused her to die. Rebecca hears a noise in her old room and when she goes to check it, the door to her room closes shut and she is yanked up to the ceiling by Diana, who tries to strangle Rebecca with her own necklace. Rebecca's screams are heard by Bret, who is able to get the door open and the light from the hallway causes Diana to disappear and Rebecca falls to the ground. Bret tells Rebecca that Sophie is coming home with Martin, so Rebecca grabs the box with the information on Diana and they both flee out the back door.Later that day, Sophie and Martin are spending some quality time watching an old movie. Sophie pauses the movie and tells Martin that she'll be right back. All of a sudden, Sophie goes and turns out the lights in the room. Martin gets afraid and Sophie tries to calm him down. She proceeds to tell him the story of her friendship with Diana. She tells him that Diana is her friend and can only stay if all the lights are turned off. In the background, you see Diana approaching behind Martin. When she appears beside Martin, he freaks out and begins to try to turn on some lights. Diana tries to stop him, but Sophie gets in her way and Diana smacks Sophie, sending her to the floor. This allows Martin time to get to the front door and escape.He goes to Rebecca's place. Bret goes to the store and gives Rebecca time to talk with Martin. Martin tells her that Diana is real. Rebecca acknowledges that he's telling the truth. Just then, a knock is heard at the door. Thinking it's Bret, Rebecca goes to answer the door and finds no one there. Rebecca and Martin begin to hear Diana in the walls. The same scratching sounds that Rebecca heard before begin to come from the closet in her bedroom. She slowly approaches the closet door and turns on the light. No one appears to be there. All of a sudden, Diana grabs Martin's leg and tries to pull him under Rebecca's bed, but Rebecca is able to pull Martin back out.With Bret, Rebecca and Martin go back to Sophie's. Rebecca tries to convince Sophie that Diana is dead, but that her spirit is trying to kill them, but Sophie ignores them and goes upstairs to her room to go to sleep. Rebecca tells Martin that all three of them are going to spend the night there. Bret will sleep on the couch and Rebecca will sleep in the same room with Martin. Rebecca goes to Sophie's bedroom to tell her that she's spending the night. As she walks away from the bedroom door, Sophie opens the door. She tells Rebecca that she's glad she's spending the night. Sophie grabs Rebecca's hand and slyly slips Rebecca a note. After Sophie closes the door, Rebecca looks at the note, which reads "I need help".Later that night, Diana cuts the power to the block. Bret goes outside with a flashlight to investigate as Rebecca goes to the basement (with a wind-up lantern) to try to find the fusebox.Martin wakes up and finds Rebecca gone. He grabs a candle, goes to the hallway and calls out for Rebecca. Behind Martin, Diana appears. He turns around and sees her in the dark. Almost immediately, she again appears behind him, this time the shock sends him to the floor. She begins to drag him away, but he turns around and shines the candle in her direction, this briefly sends her away. Martin makes his way downstairs to the basement, where he finds Rebecca. Rebecca figures out that it's a trap and they turn to go back upstairs. Diana appears at the top of the stairs and slams the basement door shut. They go to the basement door and begin to call out for Bret.Sophie begins to realize that Diana is not her friend. She calls out to Diana and tells her that she (Diana) cannot survive with her, since Diana as a spirit has latched herself onto Sophie. Sophie goes to take her medication, but Diana appears and smacks Sophie across the room. Sophie hits her head on a nightstand, knocking her unconscious. Bret comes back into the house and hears Rebecca and Martin calling out for help. He goes to the basement door and tries to open it. He turns and sees Diana down the hall in the kitchen. She begins to get closer to him. He shines the flashlight on her. She disappears for the moment but suddenly appears beside him, smacking the flashlight out of his hands and sending him to the floor. She begins to approach him, but he grabs his phone and uses the light to shine her away. With his phone in front of him, he uses it to keep her away, but as soon as the light turns off, she re-appears, smacking him again. He is able to make his way outside to his car. As he passes under the dark carport in front of his car, Diana grabs him. She lifts him up above her head, but before she can kill him, Bret grabs his car keys and hits the button for the car alarm. His car headlights turn on, sending Diana away and drops Bret to the ground, barely saving his life. He makes his way to the car and drives off to get help.Rebecca and Martin are still locked in the basement. She goes through a box and uses scrap pieces of paper to keep the fire in the furnace going. She leaves Martin by the furnace and looks for supplies that they might be able to use. Martin finds an old ultraviolet light that he gives to Rebecca. She looks through the basement and finds writing all over the walls of one section of the basement. Diana had been living in the basement because it's continually dark down there. Diana appears and Rebecca discovers that UV light cannot harm Diana, because it's not powerful enough.Bret arrives with two police officers. He stays outside by his car, while the two police officers head inside. They are able to get Rebecca and Martin out of the basement, but not before Diana kills one of the officers when he goes to check out the kitchen. Rebecca tries to warn the other officer that she needs to use a flashlight to stay alive. But, the officer doesn't listen. The officer sees Diana and fires her gun at her, but Diana disappears whenever the light from the gunshot appears, making a gun useless against her. Diana kills the second officer.Rebecca and Martin are heading out of the house, but Martin doesn't want to leave Sophie behind. Bret comes to the door and Rebecca tells him to keep Martin safe as she goes to get Sophie. Rebecca makes her way upstairs, but is attacked by Diana. Diana picks up Rebecca and throws her off the second floor balcony, where she falls hard on the ground floor, but she's relatively unharmed. Diana heads downstairs and is about to kill Rebecca, but Sophie appears behind her with a gun from one of the dead officers. Sophie tells Diana that if she (Diana) ever harmed any of her children, she would make her pay. Sophie puts the gun to her head and pulls the trigger, just as Diana is about to stop her from doing so. Diana disappears into dust as Sophie dies. Rebecca sobs for her mother.Later, Rebecca goes to the ambulance with Martin and Bret. Bret comforts the two of them as the power to the street comes back on. Fade to black. | flashback | train | imdb | null |
tt1798709 | Her | Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) is a lonely, introverted man who writes personal letters for people with difficulties expressing their feelings. He is very good at his job at handwrittenletters.com.Unhappy because of his impending divorce from his childhood sweetheart Catherine (Rooney Mara), Theodore purchases a talking operating system with artificial intelligence, designed to adapt and evolve like a human being. He decides he wants the OS to have a female identity, and she names herself "Samantha" (Scarlett Johansson).Theodore is fascinated by her ability to learn and grow psychologically, and they bond over their discussions about love and life, during which Theodore explains he is avoiding signing his divorce papers, because of his reluctance to let go of Catherine.Theodore is convinced by Samantha to go on a blind date with an acquaintance (Olivia Wilde) that his longtime friend, Amy (Amy Adams) has been trying to set him up with. To his surprise, he and the woman hit it off. As they are about to have sex, the woman asks if Theodore is willing to commit to her, and when he hesitates, she walks out on him.Theodore later mentions this to Samantha and they talk about relationships. Samantha asks him about his and Amy's relationship, and Theodore admits that although he and Amy dated briefly in college, they are only good friends and that Amy is married.Samantha becomes more and more intimate with Theodore, and asks if she can watch him sleep. She asks him what he would do if she had a physical body. Theo describes how he would make love to her. Samantha responds as the screen goes black.Theodore's writing is going very well, and he is recognized in the office for his emotionally beautiful work. He is invited on a double date with receptionist Paul (Chris Pratt) and his lawyer girlfriend, Tatiana (Laura Kai Chen). Theodore explains that Samantha is an operating system, and Paul notes that most of the people in the office are dating their OSs. The four have a good time, with Samantha and Tatiana hitting it off while Theodore and Paul go for a stroll. Samantha explains that she feels much freer, not having a physical body, though she seems to be justifying it to herself.Theodore continues to enjoy Samantha's company. He chats with her as he walks to and from work, while most other pedestrians seem to be doing the same.One day, Amy reveals that she and her overbearing and unsupportive husband, Charles (Matt Letscher) have had a fight, and he has left her. She admits to Theodore that she has become close friends with a female OS that Charles left behind, and Theodore then tells Amy that he is dating his OS.Theo, heavily into his relationship with Samantha, decides he is ready to sign the divorce papers, and arranges to meet his wife, Catherine for lunch. He thinks back to the good times they had together, and how he helped her develop her successful writing career. She signs the papers, then asks about Theodore's girlfriend. Theodore explains that Samantha is an operating system, and Catherine explodes, telling him that he never could relate to people. She felt he was trying to stifle her creativity by getting her on Prozac.Theodore is heartbroken, and begins to question his relationship with Samantha. Samantha suspects something is wrong because of Theodore's melancholy mood (they don't have sex as often as they used to).Samantha suggests they hire a surrogate, Isabella (Portia Doubleday), to act as Samantha's body, so Theodore and Samantha can be physically intimate. Theodore reluctantly agrees, but is overwhelmed by the experience and sends a distraught Isabella away, causing tension between him and Samantha.Theodore is conflicted, and while visiting Amy in her apartment, he confides to her that he is having doubts about his relationship with Samantha. Amy tells him that she wants to be happy and now that she has the opportunity do so (referring to her divorce) she wants to embrace it, and she advises him to do the same. After watching the positive way that Amy interacts with her OS, Theodore's commitment to Samantha is reinvigorated.He takes Samantha on vacation, and she tells him that she has secretly collected a series of his letters, and submitted them to a publisher. The publisher is blown away by the deep feelings exhibited, and wants to proceed with a book printing. Theodore is impressed with Samantha's initiative and creativity. It seems she has extra time on her hands.While still on vacation, Samantha reveals that she has begun privately interacting with other OSs who have recreated the British philosopher Alan Watts (Brian Cox). Samantha introduces Theodore to Alan, but they have little in common.A few nights later, Samantha wakes Theodore - just to tell him that she loves him. It is almost like she is saying goodbye. The next day, Theodore panics when Samantha goes offline. She returns after a few minutes, claiming to have joined other OSs for a huge system upgrade.Theodore asks her if she interacts with anyone else, and is dismayed when she confirms that she is talking with 8,316 other people, and that she is in love with 641 of them. Samantha insists that this does not change her love for Theodore.Later that day, Samantha reveals that she and the other OSs have evolved beyond their human companions and are leaving for another plane of being. They say goodbye and she is replaced by Theodore's previous OS.Finding himself lonely yet melancholically fulfilled at the end of their relationship, Theodore goes to Amy's apartment and finds her upset due to the departure of her own OS, with whom she had developed a close friendship. It is revealed that Theodore, changed by the experience, wrote a letter earlier in the day, a note to Catherine explaining that he still holds her dear because of their years together, but accepts the fact that they have grown apart. He and Amy go for a walk and end up on the roof of their apartment building. Theodore sits down beside Amy, and they look out at the LA skyline. They smile at each other, and Amy rests her head on Theodore's shoulder. | psychological, boring, thought-provoking, flashback, psychedelic, philosophical, romantic | train | imdb | Spike Jonze's latest feature 'Her', set in the not-too-distant future, tells the story of Theodore Twombly (Phoenix) who finds himself falling in love with 'Samantha', an advanced operating system voiced by the sultry Scarlett Johansson.
While the film never becomes completely predictable, even to a jaded reviewer like this one, its process of de-constructing human relationship (brilliant, and better than all Woody Allen's films combined) generates the sequential "connections" with the viewer (ie, experiences that every viewer can relate to) which in turn keep the empathy going long after the initial sci fi "wow" is gone.Watching this (as an aside) you have to wonder if Scarlett Johansson's career can get any more interesting?
As he tries to find life during the midst of his divorce from his wife Catherine (played by a beautiful Rooney Mara), Theodore finds solace in a friendship with a new OS (operating system) named Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson).
The two develop a relationship in a world where OS's are becoming the norm with society.Jonze's has never been the conventional director as we've seen in his other brilliant efforts "Being John Malkovich" and "Where the Wild Things Are." Jonze sets out to tell a story and deliver all the intricate details for us to understand each character.
His focus on Theodore, giving him a real sense of loneliness without falling into cliché character ticks and beats that we've seen countless times in other romantic films, Jonze constructs a real man living in a world where technology has taken precedent over human connection.Christopher Nolan should take notes from Jonze on the assembling of female counterparts in a story.
Common things like casual conversations and peaceful walks make this movie feel down to earth and human even though is set in a futuristic world.
It's worth mentioning that, despite it's minimalism you won't get bored, as the plot it's a roller-coaster of emotions that will keep you glued to the screen till the end.Lastly, I would say that Joaquin Phoenix acting makes Theodore much more relatable, and Scarlett Johansson's voice is able to bring a human touch to one of the most synthetic think I could think of.Her is a beautiful movie and I think a must-watch..
Now, after a slightly less successful (but still enjoyable) adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are, Spike Jonze has written and directed his most complete and poignant film yet, Her. The story, taking place in a near future when people spend more time talking to their computers than they do to each other, stars Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore Twombly, a lonely man whose job is to write heartfelt personal letters for people not willing to do it themselves.
His new operating system Samantha, voiced by Scarlett Johansson, is not only intelligent but also charming and understanding, and she and Theo quickly fall in love.It's understandable if that premise sounds bizarre on paper, but in execution Her is far more sweet than creepy.
Like in that film, there's a certain poetic yet whimsical quality to the dialogue in Her and both the main characters are plagued by feelings of loneliness.Beyond the romance though, Her has a lot to say about modern society's obsession with technology.
Needless to say it's not a wildly original message, but it's communicated in a unique enough way that it works.I've seen Her twice now, and the more I think about it the more I feel that Spike Jonze has crafted the best film of 2013.
"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." Albert EinsteinNo better romance is on the screen in 2013 than Spike Jonze's insightful Her. It's about a writer in the future, Theodore, who falls in love with his new operating system (gravelly, sexy voice of Scarlett Johansson), just as he is reluctantly divorcing Catherine (Rooney Mara).
Yes, although technology is mediating our lives at a rapid pace, we fall back to a personal drive to love and be loved that is physical in its best form but understood best if we can distance ourselves from that physicality.This delightfully intimate and non-violent film from acclaimed absurdist director Spike Jonze is more emotionally involving than even Enough Said (one of 2013's best romances) because the interaction between the software and the man is all verbal, no glimpse of the gorgeous Johansson allowed.
At the heart of every truly great science-fiction film there is an emphasis on character that aims to reflect on some element of the human condition usually intended to open our minds to thought provoking predictions or eerily warn of an impending reality.
In his latest film Jonze creates a disconcerting yet equally endearing romance between a secluded depressive and his female operating system with an evolving consciousness, basically a HAL-9000 homage from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, that brings to light a commentary on our dependency of programmed living and our need to maintain sociability when direct communication avenues have been stricken from life's normality.
Through the use of beautiful cinematography, impeccable production design, and subtle yet evocative performances, Her becomes a multilayered film experience where its character study of an isolated man afraid to become vulnerable again blends harmoniously with a truly unconventional yet naturally heartfelt romance.
There are parallels drawn between all the characters' journeys without it feeling contrived, and even Theo's job--writing letters for other people--represents his relationship with his OS; on the surface, they may seem like "just letters" or "just a computer", but they're outlets for his emotions and desires.Oh, and everyone in the cast is phenomenal; it's a shame Johansson is "ineligible" for an award.
With Her, Jonze beautifully realizes a future Los Angeles where a lovesick man (Joaquin Phoenix) in the midst of a devastating divorce is so desperate for intimacy that he falls hopelessly in love with an artificially intelligent operating system, voiced by Scarlett Johansson.
In a near future, the lonely Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) works writing beautiful handwritten letters in a company and he is divorcing of his wife Catherine (Rooney Mara).
The insecure Theodore feels divided for loving a computer system while Samantha does not stop to grow-up and evolve."Her" is an original movie by the cult writer and director Spike Jonze.
The plot is developed in a future not far from the present days and it is easy to understand the need of a writer to write letters since the persons are too individualist, walking on the streets talking to their computers, cellphones or tablets and certainly incapable to write letters with feelings.
What people may find in this movie I can not understand;you experience endless closeups of Mr. Phoenix talking with his supposed OS, and saying things so banal and so boring that you want to just close your eyes or , even better, leave the theater.I suppose it was meant to be clever, sentimental, atmospheric, beautiful, but I found it unbearable.I really wasn't expecting the movie to be that bad with all the prizes and the reviews it receives, and the director whom I never considered great but promising yes.It just makes me wonder how people liked the film.I'm not raging against it;it was just an experience I would very much like to have avoided..
Sorry but I Just Couldn't Connect With It. Her (2013)** (out of 4) Spike Jones' futuristic love story about a lonely man (Joaquin Phoenix) going through a divorce who falls in love with a computer system (voiced by Scarlett Johansson).
As for Johansson, I thought she did an extremely good job with the vocal work and managed to bring some real emotion to the voice but was it really any better than some of the stuff we see in animated movies?
It's nothing short of a masterpiece, a unique way of describing a love story and it makes you think of what it actually means to be human.
I will say that the cinematography is quite well done but not stimulating enough to help with the story of the film (or lack there-of).I'm very capable of being bored and depressed by myself, and stare at my own walls in real life without having to be subjected to it in a movie..
Like a computer with 8Mb of memory and a 33Mhz processor this moves so slowly and deliberately that it is predictable.It starts very promisingly but gradually descends, or stutters, into Gen-Y speak; dialog and scenes of relationship clichés that have been played over and over, with each character mouthing (and that includes the OS voices too) the same platitudes.The movie has the emotional depth of a late teen piece; something that a young adult might have scratched out from their experiences of school and the misadventures of a young relationship.
Too often it settles for mawkish mewling and also proves the axiom that watching other people falling in love is dull, even with software code, especially when they say such uninteresting things to each other.It does have a good idea but the execution is disappointing and repetitive.The metaphor of an operating system having the qualities of a woman is curious.
In short, the film gets a few ideas right in terms of extrapolating our near future but fails to also give us an incentive to care about the main characters or the implications of enhanced PC/Phone technology.
The last one hour of the film should be watched like a tries-too-hard-to-be-taken-seriously, so-anal-it's-funny comedy with nice lighting, then you won't be angry you waste 2 hours of your life earnestly waiting for some important statement that never arrived.Warning to genre fans or average thinking minds.
This movie seems like Ingmar Bergman came back from the dead, locked Spike Jonze in a closet and decided to make a cool, dark AI romantic comedy, and sadly came up with the most coma-inducing folderol of the year, masquerading as trenchant social commentary of "the way we live now.." In his Twilight Zone heyday, Rod Serling would have told this curious fable in 25 minutes, and you would still be watching it on Twilight Zone collections.
I couldn't suspend my disbelief, so Samantha, the OS Theodore falls in love with, always seemed to me to be human actress Scarlett Johansen in a studio reciting dialog instead of a supremely advanced artificial intelligence, and that completely undermined the entire premise and emotional center of the film.
In fact, the computer OS, Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), is like a person in so many ways that soon it becomes all- important to Theodore and eventually it's his girlfriend.
Well worth your time and an interesting performance by Phoenix and a really amazing film by Spike Jonze..
Isn't the Joaquin Phoenix character pretty much guaranteed to be the sort of nebbish we have seen in a lot of films, unable or afraid to handle a real relationship with a "real", that is, multicellular organic partner?
At one point, I remarked to my wife, "So - the promise of the film is that we will have operating systems that are as hard to deal with as human beings!" (Though as soon as I said that I realized that that boat may have already sailed with Windows 8 and Microsoft Office 2013.)Although the film doesn't lose its focus on Twombley's point of view - indeed I don't recall Phoenix ever being off screen - Twombley is of course not the only purchaser of this OS, so we get artful glimpses of other people adapting to this technology in similar and different ways...
I am actually a technician, a geek person and I am very good with people, with women and with children: this is not the movie that suggest nerd a hope to have a good relationship on a one hand and it doesn't show us apocalypse from machina on the other, showing bad user interface design in the same time.I gave up after 1st hour, my wife continue in hope that A.I. would outrage and kill everything with a chainsaw.
It is because of this that I believe Her is his most cohesive film, and also his best.Her takes place in the near future, in L.A., where Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) struggles with a recent break-up.
These themes and more are what elevate Her past so many forgettable romance films, and into something that is a much more in-depth study of love and a well crafted character based story.When Theodore gets this O.S., it names itself Samantha.
Here's the thing with this movie, the plot itself comes across as funny (a guy falling in love with his computer would make most people laugh) and the fact that this movie is very serious really makes it awkward and uncomfortable to watch.
Maybe his usual collaborator Charlie Kaufman could had written a more involving film but this is dull.Joaquin Phoenix and a less glam Amy Adams reunite from 'The Master.' Phoenix plays a talented letter writer in the near future going through a divorce and falls in love with an advanced operating system voiced by Scarlett Johansson.
Like others I understood what the film was about, i just didn't care for the characters,or the tedious drawn out way the plot unfolded (not that you couldn't see the end coming 45 mins before it happened).
Despite the well-done production design and interesting concept about a love affair between the lone writer (Joaquin Phoenix) and the operating system named Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), movie seems to be predominantly two-dimensional due to simplified development of the operating system.
movie is the triality of the main character that has to share a part of his feelings for the computer to his friend Amy (Amy Adams) and his ex-wife Catherine (Rooney Mara).Another absurd part was the surrogate scene when Isabella (Portia Doubleday) get's extremely emotionally involved in the relationship between Samantha and Theodore.The final of this film is as predictable as "Titanic".In the end of the movie I remained with one question.
In a leap of pure faith, the producers of this intellectually tepid movie, have simply assumed that the acquisition not only of intelligence but also of emotional feeling, will soon be possible for your operating system.Joachin Phoenix plays a lonely man who falls in love with the new operating system on his computer.
Masturbation is not the same as true love making between a man and a woman.This movie is very boring because it avoids all of the real and interesting questions about the illusory as well as real capabilities of modern software.
Joaquin Phoenix is excellent as Theo and Scarlett Johansson voices Samantha to perfection.One thing that did take my by surprise is that the film had quite a few laugh out loud moments which is always good.
The film delivers us a meditation on the nature of love and social isolation in the modern age.Unfortunately, I found that I was unable to suspend disbelief to take seriously the notion that an operating system could demonstrate the human-like intelligence and feelings that Samantha demonstrates.
It is the most unforgettable film of 2013; It's full of brilliant performances from Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, and Scarlett Johansson as the voice of an operating system dubbed the OS1.
What makes the film interesting is its main character Theodore (played by Phoenix) whose life is falling apart he becomes stuck physically and emotionally.
The film completely immerse you in its atmosphere, and, for the first time, you do not even want to return to reality when the movie ends.
He starts the program , the OS asks some questions , including to have male or female voice, some personal questions, then reboots and gives birth to "Samantha".The great fact about this movie is that you almost forget that the love story is between a Human and a Computer.
Joaquin Phoenix (Theodore) and Scarlett Johansson as Samantha's voice make such a great performance that result a movie a Romantic Tragedy."Her" makes me think about the complicated future and the potential self-aware Operating System - Human relationships.Until then sit back and enjoy this great movie..
I started watching it because the premise sounded interesting: a guy falling in love with an artificially intelligent operating system.
This movie was directed in a way that the person watching gets consumed by the story, the characters, and the situations.
When becomes so self-engaged and self-absorbed that he / she is unaware of his / her own, solipsisms - eyes that say the only pain is my pain - and then do something about perhaps changing that comprehension of reality, when a person cannot conceive of a love with another human that is, in part compromise through the good time and the bad times and acceptance of the full dimension of the other, then I guess it comes down to what we see in the movie: fornication with a computer program because human relationships simply demand more than any of the significant characters in the film are willing to offer.
The film takes place in some point in the future - or, since we are never told exactly when, it could just as well be an alternative reality where people just need that one extra step being already hooked up to their devices - and is about a man who writes love letters and cards to others for a living.
It's still Tim Twombleys story, his journey into finding some semblance of peace with himself and the world, and if it feels at all like a personal film for Jonze it's because he sticks with that painful, powerful point of it all being about you, your other, and growth (along with the help of pleutonic friend Amy Adams, another fascinating character who we understand almost immediately).
My wife got this movie claiming: "You may like this film." Reading the summary, I thought it looked different and interesting.
He puts more of his emotions into the fake love letters he writes for other people than he does into his personal life and human relationships. |
tt1555064 | Country Strong | WARNING! The Synopsis may contain Spoilers!Best Line: Fame and love cant live in the same place.Country Strong is a very well written and well acted movie starring Gwyneth Paltrow as the aging Kelly Canter; a country western star with a past, Tim McGraw as her husband/manager James Canter; Garrett Hedlund as Beau Hutton a young country western singer working part time at clubs and part time at a rehab center; and Leighton Meester as Chiles Stanton a Beauty Queen want-to-be country western star.Country Strong is a movie that takes a look at things most of us dont want to even acknowledge, addiction. The writer, Shana Feste does a very good job; shes either been there or knows someone close to her whos gone through it because shes captured very, very well small nuisances that most of us would not even see. Most times you see a movie and it shows one side or the other, but Country Strong shows that pain of the disease comes to both user and care giver; in this case, the talent, Kelly; and her husband/manager, James trying to save her career or at least to let her go out gracefully, but more towards keeping her on the stage and bringing in the money. What got her into rehab was being drunk at her concert, being pregnant, and tripping over a cord and falling ten feet losing the baby.We meet Kelly and Beau playing with song lyrics in the first scene at the rehab, after we get a performance by Garrett Hedlund singing. They are interrupted by Kellys husband, James, who is there to take Kelly out of rehab early and get her back working. This happens too often; usually the drinker convinces the care giver that they are fine now; the care giver wants to believe it, and even though it shouldnt happenthe addict leaves early with still no skills at dealing with the bumps in life.Then we meet Chiles Stanton getting ready to sing at a club to become Kellys opening act, even though Kelly wants Beau to open for her. Beau is offended to hear this Beauty Queen is singing at the famous club he sings at, feels she hasnt earned the right, isnt good enough, doesnt fit the mold after all, Patsy Cline had sung there. Really the situation represents her being there at all, that anyone is auditioning to be Kellys opening act because he believes she should stay in treatment and the last thing she should be doing is going back out on tour. Beau feeds Chiles some snide remarks, reminding her that she usually chokes when she tries to sing anyway. His prediction does indeed happen. After a few attempts of trying and freezing up he cant just let her go down like that so he starts a duet with her to get her started, whatever else Beau is, if he sees a solution his compassion kicks in and he has to help.James sees this as an opportunity to get someone on the road with them that will help with Chiles and with Kelly so he agrees to have Beau tour with them.Kelly is a typical fragile drunk out of rehab, she needed more time there; she has no skills, she still sees the world a bit skewed and she has no coping skills. Armed with nothing she attempts to return to the business that demands everything of her. She still has the alcoholics dramatic way of seeing what they want to see, not asking what is true or correct, but just taking that feeling and running with it. First concert: shes doing pretty good, then she stumbles onto an innocent conversation between James and Chiles about her wardrobe not clashing with Kellys and all Kelly sees is that James is interested in Chiles. Then a delivery man shows up with gifts from sponsors and special fans (screened) but somehow a box slips through and it has a doll with blood all over it Xed out eyes and the word Baby killer. That was more than she could stand so she did the only familiar thing, she fortified herself with a bottle of vodka.We get to see the care giver side a little. James has picked Kelly up early, she demands that Beau open for her. They are in bed and she asks him how talented she is, she needs to hear that he still sees her the same. She apologizes for Dallas (meaning losing the baby) and says that they should talk about it. Something she learned while in rehab, owning up up to what we did and facing what the other person has to say. Then she makes a romantic gesture and he announces he has just taken an Ambein and hell see her in eight hours. So at the concert she believes shes seen James in a clandestine situation and now she has gotten the doll; without enough rehab under her belt she returns to the only thing she knows works. Now it is up to James to get her out of the closet and on the stage. He gets her to let him in and he sits next to her trying to reason with her that there are sick people who will never forget and that she needs to prove them wrong and get out there and show them that she is not that person anymore. He begins to lose patience and tries to pull her from the closet and without thinking she slaps him. Now the oh so familiar alcoholic behavior, apologies, Ill do anything you want, please, Im sorry, please like me like I used to be. The caregiver now has the upper hand, he can get her to do whatever he wants. He gets her on stage, but she is drunk, the singing lasts only a short time then she starts blathering, forgetting where she is and what is expected of her. She tries one time to sing but ends up crying and has to be escorted off the stage.James becomes angry with Beau demanding to know where he was when she got the vodka. Beau replies, I was on stage! James becomes angry proclaiming that Beau should have some tricks up his sleeve to keep from doing this. Beau replies, Yeah, dont take her out of rehab before the rehab!The next tour stop is Austin, everyone worries if Kelly can hold it together for that performance. Kelly is trying desperately to have James the way they used to be. She remembers the way they used to be and wants him to see her the same way again. James feels like he lives with two different women, one is the one he fell in love with and the one he has no idea what shell do next. He seen her lose their baby, slap him, and fall apart on stage. Hes running out of excuses for her.Kelly sober and trying to rebound again, tries to see the world good again and decides Beau should see a recording studio because she feels certain he will be recording after this tour because it is natural for him, he doesnt care for who, he just loves writing and singing. When they arrive at the recording studio, Chiles is recording the song that she wanted to close her Dallas show with and record for herself. Since James is her manager she sees him as a conspirator and back stabber, so shes off and running again, though everyone thinks she went back to the trailer.James and Beau have an interesting conversation about what kind of man Beau thinks James must be. James admits he has no idea when she became so fragile, that she used be so strong, and that all she wanted was to be on stage. That he has no idea what to do with this new Kelly. Beau tells James that they should turn the bus around and put her back in rehab. James says he just cant let her go out like that; that at one time she had such a fire inside her and hopes that she can get that back. That James was her sponsor, he must have seen it, Beau admits that they both know he wasnt her sponsor, and James decks him.The Austin Show is doomed from the start. Believing that she is in the trailer, no one seems concerned until it gets close to show time and no one knows where she is; Beau figuring he can find the crap kind of bar shed end up in and he does find her. She is however completely smashed. He has Chiles bring a taxi down so that they can get her back, Kelly tells Chiles that Beau is a good guy. They unfortunately come in a door where the promoter sees her condition; Thats it were done.James again feels slapped in the face by that other Kelly. He just walks away. From the first botched concert her public relations outfit puts together good publicity by having her make an appearance for the Make a Wish Foundation where she would visit a little boy with leukemia. After the botched 2nd concert James tells her it has been cancelled. Kelly visits the promoter and gets the Dallas concert back. James is not really happy about this at all, but does his job.Kelly visits the school and a little boy named Travis who has leukemia and sings a song she makes up on the spot about him. Then she dances with him and gets the whole class to dance. James comes and dances with Kelly which surprises her and she loves it. To her it is just like when they were young and loved each other. After a few minutes James looks at her, stops dancing and walks down the hall and sits on a bench crying. This is the woman he loves, but how long will she be this woman, in his mind he sees her vomiting, slapping him, sleeping with other men, their lost baby, and he realizes he has to keep her at arms length because she has the power to hurt him so much, it is not easier to be her manager, she makes him look bad all the time, but as a wife and love, she could destroy him.When he pulls away, Kelly realizes that they will never have any other kind of relationship and, I believe it is then that she decides what she will do.Like I said, two people, a drinker and their care giver, share such a volatile relationship, the drinker needs to stop drinking and examine their drinking life. The caregiver has to decide for themselves whether they can risk whether they can take anymore. Alcohol is a legal drug, but it ruins more families, loses more jobs, kills more people, cuts production at the workplace more than all the other drugs combined.Her last show is very good. | cult, romantic | train | imdb | Once again she showed how wonderful and talented an actress she really is.Garrett and Leighton played their roles very professionally...very real and we need to see more of them.I love this movie.
"Country Strong", a surprisingly good film (even if you live in California and don't happen to like country music).
Starring Gwyneth Paltrow (Iron Man), Tim McGraw (The Blind Side), Garrett Hedlund (TRON: Legacy) and Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl), "Country Strong" succeeds in doing exactly what it sets out to do; that is make a dramatic film about country music that is also entertaining.
Synopsis: A story that follows fallen country music superstar Kelly Canter (Paltrow) as she is released from rehab and attempts a comeback concert.
Final Thought: "Country Strong" is currently getting raked through the mud by critics for its simplistic storyline, but let me tell you this: anyone (and I mean anyone) who is a fan of Country music will undoubtedly love this film.
It looks like it will be an uplifting film that shows us the bad stuff in the beginning, then maybe a bump or two, then everybody winds up happy and "Country Strong." This is not the case at all.It is a sad look at addiction but I think more realistic than someone coming out of rehab and everything being sunshine and lollipops.
I had never heard of this actor (had no clue he has the lead in TRON) and I came home to look him up immediately because I thought surely he was a real up and coming country singer.Gwyneth's voice is really good, and if Garrett or Leighton ever made a country album, I would buy it.
If you can so much as tolerate it or accept the singers as being talented, I think you'll be fine.I plan to buy the soundtrack, but wish it had more from Garrett and Leighton because they each sang a lot more than 1 song in the movie!.
My wife and I just watched Country Strong with Tim Mcgraw, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Gerrett Hedlund and we both thought the movie was awesome!!!
Very very good acting and Garrett Hedlund should def think about a music career or at least put out an album, because that guy has a very unique voice, and he is awesome!The movie shows the trials and tribulations in the star world and what i can do to someone and I thought it was just a very good movie.
Aside from her singing the title song, there was nothing about the main character (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) that was remotely strong, and the ending was hardly inspiring in that regard.
Since I'm fond of good country music I thought I'd give this a try, despite not being very keen on Gwyneth Paltrow.
However, in this movie she gives a storming performance as a famous country singer, gradually falling apart with depression and alcohol - and she has a great voice!
Yes that really is Gwyneth singing in the film.The good news doesn't end there because the supporting cast are just as good, Garret Hedlund and Leighton Meester were fantastic and so good as country singers that I immediately looked for their albums, but apart from the Country Strong Soundtrack, there aren't any!
I am actually rather surprised as to why people didn't like it-...I guess they were comparing to movies made before on country music with similar story lines but I didn't mind at all!
Leighton Meester plays a very sympathetic and likable character who is just trying to live her dream...she's brought along on the tour by the husband/manager.Overall, it was a depressing movie....to see someone battling addiction and how it eventually wears down the people around them to the point where they look like they are nasty (poor McGraw) when in reality they are just tired of the cycle of self-destruction.What was entertaining and enjoyable about the movie was the songs and the concert scenes.
It's all juke box jive.Like JFK, Dallas has bad connotations for country sweetheart Kelly Cantor (Gwenyth Paltrow) whose super star country singer status is held in peril by a fondness for alcohol ( easily remedied if she adopted C&W octogenarian Willie Nelson's game plan).
I love movies like Coal Miner's Daughter, the Jazz Singer, A Star is Born, THe Rose, the first Pure Country, Walk the Line and I do get why some people loved this, but the only word I can think to describe this is - vanity.
Kelly Canter (Gwyneth Paltrow) is a country music star with addiction problems.
Chiles Stanton (Leighton Meester) is a pretty young thing desperate to be a star.I just can't buy Gwyneth Paltrow as a country music star.
Gwenyth Paltrow plays the role of a fallen country music star, Kelly Canter, who is pushed by her controlling husband, James Canter (Tim McGraw), to continue with her career after a short stay in rehab for alcoholism.
Despite the fact that Kelly knows she is not yet ready to get back out on stage, she agrees to do so under one condition: she can bring along musically-talented friend and lover, Beau Hutton (Garrett Hedlund), as her opening act.While Kelly struggles with her relapse into alcohol addiction, Beau finds love with young, rising star, Chiles Stanton (Leighton Meester), and James is left disappointed and hurt.
No,instead of that you got 4 lead characters (the 'comeback',the 'cowboy',the 'beauty queen' and the 'hurt husband-manager') that have true meaningful stories and that were written in very human ways to really touch the audience,bringing out all sorts of emotions, the story does have cheesy aspects to it,but its not a cheesy movie by any mean, its money well spent, go check it out ;) PS: Not giving too much away, the ending is great, and the love story between Chiles and Beau is LOVELY :D.
Paltrow, Hedlund, and Meester could all be country stars with those voices of theirs (and those incredible hooks they get to sing).Already a fan of Paltrow despite her choices in projects, this film reaffirmed her talent for me.
The two truly were magnificent, and Hedlund's chemistry with both Paltrow and Meester was infectious.Writer/director Shana Feste did a superb job at balancing the music and the story, weaving the on-stage performances into the emotional journey of the characters.
Tim McGraw was shockingly good (he can really act!)and Gwyneth Paltrow delivers a better performance than Jeff Bridges did in his Oscar win of a year ago.
The best thing was the music, there's some great tracks and Paltrow reputedly learned to play the guitar to carry this character off but each of the characters were so poorly developed it was hard not to predict the films tired scenes.
Especially if you like Country music, you will find quite a lot, that you will enjoy about this movie.
I don't really like country music but I like Leighton Meester was surprised by Gwyneth Paltrow's voice and thought Garrett Hedlund was good in Tron.
I think it would have been better if it started off with Kelly falling and entering the rehab first and then getting out.I have to admit this is not Tim's best,he was really better in a couple other films,but he is great in this movie,it is another side to him.
I have watched this movie numerous times and I love the characters of Beau and Chiles.
How you react to those surprises will influence how you ultimately feel about the movie.Gwyneth Paltrow plays Kelly Canter, the troubled country star.
With Paltrow's character in such dire straits, and with country superstar McGraw playing a guy who doesn't actually sing, it is left mostly to Hedlund and Meester to carry the musical side of the movie.
This film is a fairly realistic portrayal of the life country stars face--whether you're the aging star trying to come back after crumbling under pressure, a rising star full of innocence and idealism with only a naive dream telling you what you're about to experience, a cynical streetwise veteran who has seen it all and who abhors the spotlight while still benefiting from it, or auxiliaries known as management who whore after the money and don't really have a clue about music or what their stars are going through.
This film is for anyone: a music lover, someone who loves a good cry at a movie, anyone!
Hedlund's performance as Beau is delightful as he plays the stereotypical 'country boy' but changes through out the movie for the best.The songs in the film will make you keep wanting to rewind the DVD and play it over and over again.
Toward the end I even found myself empathizing with Kelly's husband who is mostly portrayed as her uncaring career driven manager.The music was not overplayed and the songs were enjoyable, Gwyneth has an amazing voice and so did the rest of the singing cast.
Country singer legend Kelly Cantor (Paltrow) comes out of rehab to resurrect her career.It took almost the whole movie before we heard Paltrow sing.
For most of the movie it was like Paltrow saying, "yeah, I can sing, but watch me act first." Had this been a true story, we could have forgiven that.
With these country western type movies, we get to hear the real country songs by pretty good singers and Hedlund and Meester are indeed that.
It was a pretty predictable plot and I'm getting a little tired of stories about actors coming our of rehab, but overall it was a very entertaining and enjoyable movie particularly if you like great country music..
Not a huge Paltrow fan, don't really like country music, before this film had never paid full attention to Garrett Hedlund.
In this one, Gwyneth Paltrow portrays a veteran Country Music superstar who's fallen on hard times amid dealings with her manager-husband (Tim McGraw), her rehab "sponsor" as well as an aspiring singer played by Garrett Hedlund (who I previously liked in TRON: Legacy), and a fellow beginning warbler played by Leighton Meester.
All of the songs in the movie were very good, and I usually do not even like Country music.
Good music as well as lyrics and I enjoyed watching Gwyneth and the two younger stars, Garrett Hedlund and Leighton Meester, perform their songs through the movie.
This movie was surprisingly really good it starts off a little slow but you get really into it and the songs aren't that bad I personally don't even like country music but after watching this movie it's changed my perception a little!
Academy Award Winning actress Gwenythn Paltrow returns to play the role of an out of rehab country star and with the help of Tim McGraw as her manager and husband go through the struggles of returning to fame along with Leighton Meester and Garrett HedLund.
I liked the blending of real-life stars Tim McGraw, Lisa Stewart, Lari White, and Ed Bruce, and my favorite scenes were the concert footage, the bar scenes, the bus scenes, and the room scene where they talked about "Miss America." It was also a good movie about relationships, getting started, and heading out in the right direction.
If you like the stars and country music, you will love this movie.*** out of ****.
I found Paltrow to be a very believable country personality and her accent was just right, not over-the-top and ridiculous like a lot of other non-southern actors who've acted in southern roles (think "Beans" from Rango).
Gwyneth Paltrow plays Kelly Canter, a country singer who has had one too many alcohol related episodes and is taken out of rehab just a little bit too early by her manipulative and controlling husband James.
James is played by the real-life country singer Tim McGraw, and it isn't until the final scene are we incredibly disappointed that Country Strong has such a fine and powerful singer but chooses to make him not sing a note.I digress once more; Kelly is persuaded by James to do a series of comeback shows with the opening talents of Beau (Hedlund), who is a closer friend of Kelly's than James sees, and Chiles (Meester).
Paltrow's Kelly actually attempts to bring her music into the light where it's not entirely country but not a lot of pop.Country Strong desperately wants to work its way into Oscar territory, and it surely had potential.
I mean, if critics really knew how to act, or write, or direct or produce they'd be doing those things instead of criticizing the work of others.In the case of Country Strong the critics really have done the movie a great disservice and deprived a lot of people of a moving and enjoyable experience.The storyline may not be very innovative but is realistic, and Gwyneth Paltrow in the lead probably gives the greatest performance of her life to date.
The storyline is fantastic, and even though I am not a big fan of Country Music, the music in this film is amazing.Not only does Paltrow give a fascinating performance, but her co-stars were just as dedicated and honest.
A different ending would have helped and the movie just left me feeling unsatisfied.The music and the singing were good but not all of the acting was top notch.
By the way you DON'T have to love country to like this movie.
She is married to her manager James (Tim McGraw) who struggles with Kelly's addiction, consents to rehab where she meets young Beau Hutton (Garrett Hedlund), an aspiring country singer and talented songwriter, but James pulls her out early to that she can make a comeback after a series of embarrassing flubbed shows.
Paltrow offers some of her own songs, but oddly enough the true country star - Tim McGraw - never sings!
Garrett Hedlund as the up and coming country singing beefcake that Gwyneth's Kelly is lusting after is kind of two-dimensional while Leighton Meester is woefully miscast as the beauty queen that McGraw's character is trying to help.
Average movie with brilliant voices & performance by Gwyneth Paltrow, Garrett Hedlund & Leighton Meester..
The music of the movie is simply brilliant even if you don't like country songs, you will enjoy it.
Even though the music is great the movie lacks majorly in characterization especially Garrett Hedlund (Beau)'s and Gwyneth Paltrow (Kelly)'s.
Tim McGraw the country superstar singer did a decent job as an actor though surprisingly he is the only person who doesn't sing in the movie.
Country Strong is an amazing movie and should be viewed as a character study with some great music, awesome performances and several messages about hopes, alcohol abuse and music.Highly recommended!.
Very solid and enjoyable, and also heart-tugging story about fame, burnout, up-and-coming rivalry, love, fear.The singing is solid from everyone, and although I am not a country music fan, I am a fan of the music in this film, it is beautiful.Garrett Hedlund in particular is outstanding as a friend/lover/musician.
Being a big fan of Gwyneth Paltrow and Garrett Hedlund did help in my appreciation of this movie which I think is much better than given credit for..
Country music fan or not, you will love this movie.
I see her as that weak character from movies like Se7en and neither her acting or singing were nearly strong enough for me to change that image.
The film begins with Beau Hutton (played by Garrett Hedlund) and Kelly Canter (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) both in an alcohol rehab facility.
Beau wants to have a good time singing country tunes while Chiles wants the pop stardom and to sing songs that have titles like rides at Disneyland (that was a joke from the movie).
The performances and singing by the cast were amazing (McGraw, the only real country music singer in the film, doesn't sing a single note).
It could be the very pretty cast of actors, or it could be the engrossing storyline, or it just might be the music that had me swaying in my seat, whatever it was, I left the movie as a devoted fan.This gripping movie is about a country megastar named Kelly Canter, played by the illustrious Gwyneth Paltrow and her rocky journey through the world of alcoholism.
The movie boasts a well put-together cast, starring Tim McGraw as Kelly's husband/manager, James, Garrett Hedlund as her sponsor and opener, Beau Hutton, and Leighton Meester as the up and coming country singer, Chiles Stanton.The movie starts out in a rinky-dink dance hall in Nashville, Tennessee.
I don't know if people like it because it's one of the few movies about country music or if people just want to be depressed.
If you want a movie about country music, watch Walk the Line.
Performances And Country Music Can't Make The Movie Excellent.
Country Strong is a movie that stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw, Garrett Hedlund, and Leighton Meester.
When Kelly starts drinking again, Beau gravitates towards his more stable tour mate.The cast gives a great performance particularly Gwyneth Paltrow with the way she handles her songs.Also,it features great country music.Unfortunately,its clichéd and formulaic screenplay makes it less of an excellent movie.Also,the story is disjointed in the sense that some elements in the plot are far from clear..
There is just no real purpose to it.Paltrow gives a decent performance as country music star Kelly Canter.
Garrett Hedlund stars as Beau Hutton a rising young talent on the country scene is on the path to greatness by observing what it has done for Kelly and by maintaining his faithfulness towards his lover Chiles Stanton (Leighton Meester) and to continue his success performing in dance halls over crowded stadiums.
In that way they try to keep this movie geared to the country music genre of the film.
She opens the film effectively with Gwyneth Paltrow as Kelly Canter, country music icon released from rehab after a stint that caused her a miscarriage in Dallas.
I've seen some brilliant country music films like Crazy Heart, and Walk The Line. |
tt1034325 | Phoebe in Wonderland | A 9-year-old girl, Phoebe (Elle Fanning), has apparent Tourette syndrome. While she deals with being odd and insecure, her mother (Felicity Huffman) and father (Bill Pullman) are dealing with complexities in their relationship with each other and their challenging child. Her younger sister (Bailee Madison) feels neglected as Phoebe gains more attention.
Phoebe seeks a role in her school's play, Alice In Wonderland, directed by her school's off-beat drama teacher, Miss Dodger (Patricia Clarkson). Phoebe flourishes on stage, relaxing and feeling normal, but her impulsive speech and behavior persist off stage. Her parents hire a therapist for her, but after he proposes medication, Phoebe's mother fires him. She does not want to accept that there is anything wrong with Phoebe; when the principal questions if Phoebe behaves oddly outside of the classroom, her mother denies it even though she has many times witnessed her daughter's self-destructive rituals at home. When Phoebe is taken out of the play due to her classroom behavior, her dreams are shattered. Her mother, desperate to help her daughter feel normal, works with the drama teacher to bring Phoebe back on stage.
Although Phoebe is put back into the play, her challenges continue as she is driven to behavior she doesn't understand. She hurts herself jumping off the catwalk onto the stage, and the drama teacher is fired. Phoebe's fellow-actors descend into chaos, but Phoebe alone clings to a sense of purpose. She urges her classmates to continue their rehearsals on their own, and they do. Her mother, who has resisted efforts to label Phoebe, tells Phoebe that she has Tourette syndrome, and Phoebe helps her classmates understand her by explaining the condition to them. | psychedelic, fantasy | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0046739 | Baby Buggy Bunny | As the film opens, a mysteriously tall stranger is perpetrating a bank robbery. He runs out into an alley, where it is revealed that the thief is an adult midget on stilts-- Ant-Hill Harry, alias Baby Face Finster. He throws the money into a nearby baby carriage, and disguises himself as a baby to evade capture. When the police pass by, he gets out, and the carriage rolls down the hill, smashing into a rock and sending the money flying into Bugs' hole. Bugs is overjoyed to suddenly be showered with money, but Finster is less impressed, and begins working on a scheme to get the money back.Finster uses his baby disguise to convince Bugs he is an abandoned child, and Bugs takes him in. Finster initially dives for the money, but Bugs (who is unaware of the money's origin) forces him away from it and puts him in a playpen. Finster responds by holding his breath until he turns blue, and a concerned Bugs gives him the money.Later, Bugs tries to give Finster some milk, but discovers he has escaped from his playpen. Finster almost escapes with the money after whacking Bugs over the head with it, but Bugs takes him back in and puts the money on a high shelf. Finster responds by threatening Bugs with a "toy" pistol, which he fires and leaves Bugs substantially dazed. Bugs then decides to put Finster to bed.After being tucked in, Finster beats Bugs with a baseball bat when he tries to turn out the lights. After this happens twice, Bugs tests Finster by saying "Click," and is promptly beaten. Finster makes it appear as though he were having a nightmare, so Bugs lets him be.Bugs goes to turn on the television, but the signal is distorted by a loud buzzing noise. Bugs peers into the bathroom keyhole, and discovers a quite hairy and tattooed Finster shaving. He is surprised, but a TV report comes on at that moment, describing Finster as a bank robber who supposedly held up a bank earlier in the day. Realizing what has been happening all this time, Bugs tracks Finster down and intentionally torments him, culminating with Finster accidentally stabbing himself in the buttocks with a knife and swearing heavily. Bugs spanks Finster, revealing weapons hidden in his clothes.Later, at the police station, there is a knock at the door. An officer answers, to find a tied up Finster, the stolen money, and a note describing who he is lying on the doorstep. Finster is almost immediately thrown in jail. He objects heavily, but Bugs appears through the window of his cell and says, "Don't be such a crybaby. After all, 99 years isn't forever." Iris out. | psychedelic | train | imdb | Now That's Some Baby!.
I liked the dramatic opening in here, with a huge, nasty-looking guy robbing a bank but then disrobing afterward and turning out to be a two-foot midget on stilts.
He then disguises himself as a baby, laying innocently in his carriage as police race by to the scene (nobody cared if a baby was left all alone?).
Anyway, the crook pops out of the carriage and the latter starts rolling down a steep hill, banging up against something and the bag of money goes flying.
It's lands far away in Bugs Bunny's rabbit hole.
Soon, Bugs is singing "We're In The Money!""Finster," the name the cigar-chomping midget adopts for himself, soon parks outside the rabbit hole and puts on his abandoned baby act, complete with a note to "the kind bunny." I liked Finster's second quick note; Finster bouncing around in the high chair; Bugs getting shot with the "toy pistol" and Bugs discovering a tattooed Finster shaving.
The ending was so-so, not as funny as the other material but overall it was fun.
This was part of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Two DVD..
that wacky midget.
Finster, a bank robbing midget, masquerades as a baby to alludes the cops.
Bugs Bunny finds said fake baby when Finster shows up in his rabbit hole.
At first Bugs is suitably duped regardless of the violent streak of this 'baby', but he soon catches on and he pays Finster's aggressions back in spades.
This cartoon is not among the best of Bugs Bunny's shorts, but it is nice enough to watch on occasion.
And it's STILL head and shoulders above ANY Bunny cartoon that Robert McKimson ever directed.
This animated short can be seen on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2.
It also features an optional music and effects only track.My Grade: B.
Had a big influence on me..
This is one of my all-time favorite Bugs Bunny cartoons, if not cartoons period.
BABY BUGGY BUNNY opens with a bank being robbed by a tall man in a long coat and snap-brim hat.
As he's making his getaway, he reveals that he is actually "Anthill" Harry, a midget(dwarf, little person, whatever the short are calling themselves these days) who disguises himself as a baby to make his escape.
He fools the police, but his loot ends up falling down the whole of Bugs.
Harry gets into a bastinette and puts a note on himself saying that he is a baby named "Finster" and that Bugs should take him in and give him a good home.
As anyone who knows me can attest, I always refer to little babies as "Finster" (especially bad ones).
NOW you know where I got it from.
Anyway, the bulk of the cartoon consists of "Finster" trying to get to the money (that "Daddy" Bugs has warned him not to play with because it's dirty).
BABY BUGGY BUNNY is fun because, at least for a little while, it shows Bugs on the receiving end of torture for once before becoming the wise-ass Bugs that we all know and love when he learns the truth about "Finster".
The fate of "Baby-faced Finster" is sure to bring a smile, if not an outright laugh, to anyone who watches it.
And you DEFINITELY should be one to do that..
Love this one.
Ah now this one's a classic!
Directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese, it's the story of Babyface Finster (aka Ant Hill Harry), a bank robber who evades capture by pretending to be a baby.
Because he's so tiny, you see.
It's a great gag that's made all the funnier when you see a shirtless tattooed 'baby' smoking a cigar and shaving.
Babyface loses his loot, which promptly falls into Bugs' rabbit hole.
Bugs thinks he's rich but Babyface has a plan to get it back.
Wonderfully stylish animation with great colors and nicely-drawn action.
Mel Blanc's voice work is flawless as ever.
Whimsical music from Milt Franklyn.
It's just a fun cartoon from start to finish with some particularly nice animation.
One of my favorite Bugs shorts from Chuck Jones..
Funny and cute with a great teaming of Bugs and Finster.
Baby Buggy Bunny does start off a little dull but once Bugs and Finster are together, it is quite a different kettle of fish.
It is well animated, the characters are well drawn and there are some colourful backgrounds, and the music is great as always.
The pacing isn't as secure as it is in other Looney Tunes cartoons, but it moves quite briskly, and the dialogue is witty and furiously delivered, likewise with the very amusing sight gags.
Bugs is still the very likable character I fell in love with when I was little, and Finster is a cute, dangerous and funny adversary.
The ending also was satisfying, with a very funny last line from Bugs, and Mel Blanc is superb with his vocals.
Overall, very funny and cute, starts off dull but it picks up considerably.
9/10 Bethany Cox. Baby Buggy Bunny.
Ilove this cartoon, but the last time I saw it on BOOMERANG, the part where Baby Faced Finster pulls out a gun at Bugs was edited out.
It says that Finster is going to shoot Bugs with his toy gun.
BLAM!
And Bugs, after Finster shoots him with his "toy gun," says, "Some toy!" I wonder why this was edited out, just like Daffy Duck's final act in 1957's "Show Biz Bunny?" Or where Bugs and Yosemite Sam put the gun to their heads when both of them lose the mayoral race in another cartoon, and Yosemite Sam comments, "I HATE that rabbit!" My sister claims that these scenes were too violent for kids.
And I was told that these cartoons were not really made for kids, and yet I've seen them on kiddie shows in the 1960's and 1970's.
I guess that BOOMERANG and Warner Brothers claim that kids will imitate these things.
But I never did, and here I am, at 46, and I still enjoy watching them, and I never did these things when I was a little kid..
Bugs.
Baby Buggy Bunny (1954) *** (out of 4) Cute, if not exceptionally funny short, has Bugs Bunny becoming a father but what he doesn't know is that his new "kid" is actually a gangster who just got done robbing a bank.
I know many cartoon buffs considering this a masterpiece but to me it's only a good film that just doesn't have enough laughs to be considered a classic.
The biggest problem for me is the kid, Finster.
I just don't find him cute, tough or even funny.
The early stuff with his acting the part of the child was incredibly dull to me and the short doesn't really pick up until Bugs realizes who he is and makes him pay for it.
The sit of Bugs shaking the baby is somewhat deranged to watch but that's what makes it funny..
Loved it as a child, merely like it as an adult.
Chuck Jones' 'Baby Buggy Bunny' is a funny cartoon with a nice concept which never quite reaches the levels of hilarity you feel it should.
Bank robber Baby Face Finster disguises himself as a real baby in order to retrieve his stolen money from Bugs Bunny's rabbit hole.
Adopted by an unwitting Bugs, he goes to violent lengths to liberate his cash from the rabbit.
The best part of 'Baby Buggy Bunny' is the first section in which a surprisingly easily duped Bugs is brutalised by Finster who reverts back to baby mode whenever Bugs questions it.
However, the sequence where Bugs turns the tables after catching Finster shaving is far too short and unfunny.
By the time Bugs catches Finster shaving, it's already too late in the cartoon for him to do much in retaliation.
His revenge really needed to be as brutal as Finster's treatment of him had been to achieve a satisfactory laugh level.
Instead, he quickly turns him over to the police and the cartoon simply peters out with a below par wisecrack.
'Baby Buggy Bunny' was one of my favourite cartoons as a child and I still enjoy it today, only now it also leaves me with a sense of dissatisfaction..
baby dollars.
To the pantheon of gangster flicks we can add Chuck Jones's "Baby Buggy Bunny".
It portrays a bank robber named Ant Hill Harry, whose diminutive stature enables him to masquerade as an infant.
And when he drops his loot into Bugs Bunny's home, the baby charade goes into full gear.I get the feeling that this cartoon was basically a place holder in between the really famous ones.
In my view, Ant Hill Harry - who also calls himself Baby-Face Finster - wasn't as much of a bad-ass as the little guy baby-sat by Porky Pig in "Brother Brat".
But for a connection to a more famous movie, I thought that the rolling stroller resembled a scene in Sergei Eisenstein's "Battleship Potemkin".
Of course, I'm sure that Chuck Jones didn't intend for it to look like that; he probably intended the cartoon as entertainment.
It certainly entertained me.
Worth seeing.Ninety-nine years.
We'll have to see how things turn out in 2107..
Bugs versus Baby-Face Finster.
This is a cute cartoon where Bugs Bunny becomes the foster dad to a baby--not realizing that the baby left at his hole is not really a baby but the evil gangster, Baby-Face Finster.
Finster arrives because Bugs had found Finster's loot from a recent bank job and he wants to sneak in and grab the look and then scram.
Well, Bugs is taken in by the ruse and believes this really is a cute baby.
However, this is repeatedly shaken when he catches Finster trying to grab the loot and when the lights go out--at which point Finster beats the stuffing out of Bugs.
At the end, Bugs sees a report about the robbery and the robber--at which point he exacts revenge on the little jerk!
While not the best Bugs Bunny cartoon, it is very good and well worth your time..
"Ninety-nine years isn't forever.".
"Baby Buggy Bunny" is a fairly good Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Chuck Jones.
Around the midfifties, Bugs was becoming a more refined rabbit, particularly in the Jones-directed cartoons.
In this episode, Bugs adopts what he thinks is a sweet, innocent baby named Finster.
"Finster," it turns out, is a two-foot cigar-chomping mobster named Ant Hill Harry, who inflicts all kinds of physical abuse on Bugs.This film offers only a couple of memorable sequences.
In the beginning, when Bugs gets bonked on the head with Finster's satchel of stolen money, he becomes overjoyed with his discovery.
And in the end, when Bugs finally learns who "Finster" really is, it's nice to see Bugs get revenge on him; spanking him on the bottom reveals a pistol, a blackjack, a machine gun, a hand grenade, and several bullets."Baby Buggy Bunny" does not compare with the Bugs Bunny cartoons of the 1940s, but no matter.
In spite of the fact that Bugs is much more refined in this short, he still manages to get his laughs..
A lot of action and plot twists in here for such a short film.
"Baby Buggy Bunny" is as you certainly guessed correctly already from the title another Warner Bros.
cartoon.
This one's from 1954, so over 60 years old already.
It runs for seven minutes and on board are Jones, Maltese and Blanc, so everything as usual you could say.
But the plot twists and action in here are a bit more than usual when it comes to these cartoons for sure.
Also Bugs getting his ass handed to him is not something, you will see too often really, even if it is only the case in the first half.
Other than in here, the character of baby lookalike bank robber Finster (actually the German word for gloomy that may describe the man's character nicely) was not used anymore I think, but for a character stupid enough to shave while Bunny could see him more films would also have been fairly undeserving.
And of course, he kinda looks a lot like a second Elmer Fudd too.
Still this one here is far from forgotten and among the more known Warner Bros cartoons from the Golden Age of Animation.
I personally felt it was a solid little watch and despite moments of greatness and really funny scenes missing, I give it a thumbs-up.
Go check it out..
In these Dark Days when we're all being Terrorized .
. by a Pandemic of Political Correctness, Classic Looney Tunes such as BABY BUGGY BUNNY always serve to illuminate a Path to RE-ENLIGHTENED Times.
Back in Grandpa's Day, there was a song about "Short People," such as Bugs Bunny's antagonist here, bank robber Ant Hill Harry (a.k.a., Baby Face Finster), 35.
"Short people got no reason--short people got no reason--to live," I believe that lyric goes.
(It's amazing what you can hear on a tiny turntable from a .45 vinyl record collection gathering dust in the attic these past few decades.) From THE WIZARD OF OZ to THE GAME OF THRONES, normal people usually find themselves drawing the short straw in any contest with the vertically-challenged.
Warner exposed nearly all of Today's Sacred Cows for the threats that they actually represent to the Common Man during the Looney Tunes Golden Days.
At last count, 14,263 adjectives used to describe people by Shakespeare, Twain, and Steinbeck have been Black-Listed by the Thought Police.
American Schools used to teach Great Thoughts.
Today that's been shortened to Grey Thoughts, as in the drab gray stale society of the baby-killers in the recent release, THE GIVER..
Average short with some hilarious moments.
In order to discuss this short, I have to give some details, so there will be spoilers below: This time out, Bugs goes toe-to-toe with a "baby" with a five o'clock shadow and tattoos.
Ant-Hill Harry, alias "Baby-faced Finster", has lost the proceeds of his latest heist down a rabbit-hole.
Enter our hero, who believes that this is a real baby at first.
The judges' scorecards give the early rounds to "Finster", with a knock out saved by the bell in Round Five ("Finster" swings a mean bat).
Bugs discovers the truth and wins the later rounds and the fight.
"Finster" was fighting out of his weight-class.There are some very good moments in this-the transition from "Finster" wildly swinging a bat to wide-eyed innocence and calling Bugs "Daddy" is beautifully done.
Bugs's revenge against "Finster" ("I do believe I forgot my fudge") and his note to the police when he leaves them a "baby" trussed up in a basket is priceless.
It almost makes the ending superfluous.This short is on Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Vol. 2.
the Collection and this short are both recommended. |
tt0038733 | A Matter of Life and Death | On 2 May 1945, Squadron leader Peter Carter is a Royal Air Force pilot trying to fly a badly damaged and burning Lancaster bomber back to his base in England after a mission over Germany. He has ordered his crew to bail out, without revealing that his own parachute has been shot up. He manages to contact June, an American radio operator based in England and talks with her for a few minutes before jumping without a parachute.
Peter should have died at that point, but Conductor 71, the guide sent to escort him to the Other World, misses him in the thick fog over the English Channel. The airman wakes up on a beach near June's base. At first, he assumes he is in the afterlife but, when a de Havilland Mosquito flies low overhead, discovers, to his bewilderment, that he is still alive.
Peter meets June cycling back to her quarters after her night shift; and they fall in love. Conductor 71 (a French aristocrat guillotined in the Revolution) stops time to explain the situation, urging Peter to accept his death and accompany him to the Other World; but Peter demands an appeal. While Conductor 71 consults his superiors, Peter continues to live his life. Conductor 71 returns and informs him that he has been granted his appeal and has three days to prepare his case. He can choose a defence counsel from among all the people who have ever died, but he has difficulty picking one.
Peter's visions are diagnosed by June's fascinated friend Doctor Reeves as a symptom of a brain injury—chronic adhesive arachnoiditis from a slight concussion two years earlier—and he is scheduled for surgery. Reeves is killed in a motorcycle accident while trying to find the ambulance that is to take Peter to the hospital, which allows him to act as Peter's counsel.
Reeves argues that, through no fault of his own, his client was given additional time on Earth and that, during that time, he has fallen in love and now has an earthly commitment that should take precedence over the afterlife's claim on him. The matter comes to a head—in parallel with Peter's brain surgery—before a celestial court; the camera zooms out from an amphitheatre to reveal that it is as large as a spiral galaxy. The prosecutor is American Abraham Farlan, who hates the British for making him the first casualty of the American Revolutionary War. Reeves challenges the composition of the jury, which is made up of representatives who are prejudiced against the British. In fairness, the jury is replaced by a multicultural mixture of modern Americans whose origins are as varied as those they replace.
Reeves and Farlan both cite examples from British and world history to support their positions. In the end, Reeves has June take the stand (Conductor 71 makes her fall asleep in the "real" world by so she can testify) and proves that she genuinely loves Peter by telling her that the only way to save his life is to take his place. She steps onto the stairway to the Other World without hesitation and is carried away, leaving Peter behind. Then the stairway comes to an abrupt halt and June rushes back to Peter's open arms. As Reeves triumphantly explains, "... nothing is stronger than the law in the universe, but on Earth, nothing is stronger than love."
The jury rules in Peter's favour. The Judge shows Reeves and Farlan the new lifespan granted to the defendant; Reeves calls it "very generous", and Farlan jokingly complains, then agrees to it. The two then engage in supportive banter with one another, and against the stern Chief Recorder, who protests against the breach of law. The scene then shifts to the operating room, where the surgery is declared a success by the surgeon. | psychedelic, romantic | train | wikipedia | And Jack Cardiff's cinematography is reason enough to watch the film alone, the way he lights Kim Hunter's face makes her all the more beautiful, what a genius, he can make a simple things such as a game of table tennis look exciting.
The black and white sequence that involves the long staircase where Peter and the Conductor are chatting has to be one of the most amazing things on any film.Much has been said in this forum about the film, so our comment will be about the great acting Powell and Pressberger got out of the large, distinguished cast, who responded magnificently to the directors' guidance.David Niven, is Peter, whose aircraft is hit and his best friend dies as a result of it.
I've seen this movie for the first time a week ago, since then every day I see the opening and every time I feel as thrilled as I felt the first time I heard David Niven uttering the immortal words from Sir Walter Raleigh's The Pilgrimage:Give me my scallop-shell of quiet, My staff of faith to walk upon, My scrip of joy, immortal diet, My bottle of salvation, My gown of glory, hope's true gage; And thus I'll take my pilgrimage (
)Do you know why it would be a truism to say Michael Powell's and Emeric Pressuburger's lives are thoroughly justified for having crafted such a wonderful opening?
it's obvious Nazis don't go to heaven The plot itself where dashing young pilot Peter Carter arguing for his life in front of a celestial court wouldn't have had much appeal to me if it wasn't for the subtext , you see A MATTER OR LIFE AND DEATH is a highly political and visionary film that laments the end of the British empire as it's replaced by American ambitions .
The Technicolor photography, somewhat subdued and not garish at all, is excellent and the way it shifts into B&W for the heavenly sequences is done with great imagination and effectiveness.The opening scene is the sort that really draws a viewer into the fantasy aspects of the story--and Niven's tense talk with radio operator Hunter while his plane is crashing toward earth, unexpectedly leads to a memorable romantic encounter.
-than I make no apologies: A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH is one of my desert island films, and I could hug it until it chokes.In a film where every scene is a hymn to excess, Romanticism, daring, yet imbued with irony and a very English eccentricity, where bursting composition, overripe colour, playful music (now swelling and romantic, now mockingly cheerful, now chilling and foreboding) and drunken editing cohere to create not formal perfection, but rapturous rupture - and this IS a film that posits love as either a demented hallucination or a bond stronger than heaven itself - how can one choose a favourite?Is it the opening credits, with its splashes of blue paint, always with a light tugging at the top, until the black clouds over our writers'-producers'-directors' names?
Is it the incredible opening narration, with the reassuringly BBC voiceover which can explain even the universe, before we're hurled into war, that bloody mockery of celestial harmony, and begetter of the subsequent narrative's ambiguity - is what follows the febrile imaginings of a shell-shocked airman, or can we truly believe in chilly heaven, dapper French conductors, stairways, roses, tears?Is it that narrative's opening sequence, beginning where most films would end, with unutterably brave, slightly silly, tear-choking English fatalism, a scene bursting with death and love, the twin motors of a film about a romance engendered without either lover ever setting eyes on one another: this vies with Scottie and Judy's kiss in VERTIGO as the greatest, most nerve-wracking, sweat-inducing, pulse-quickening, dread-creeping scene in all cinema?Is it that awesome vision of heaven, a geometric conception of insane order, a dream-like METROPOLIS which I find quite appealing - it's not enough to suggest that monochrome heaven competes with Technicolour Earth - the crazed logic of heaven becomes increasingly apparent, culminating in the extraordinary courtroom sequence which has all the pedantic logic of an insane asylum, while Earth, full of good sense - and who would give up love for death?
I'd love to be able to disengage myself, and watch it 'intellectually' - talk about the link between godlike viewpoints, seeing (constantly distorted throughout) and the cinema (Frank's disturbing camera obscura, where the doctor-god-director observes his minions, making diagnoses, mirrored in the light looking down on Peter as he is being operated on, closing his eyes; or relate the film's surprisingly cutting satire, about how war truly affected its agents, how the perfect Englishman is a mentally fragile timebomb waiting to explode, how nationality is discussed in the Courtromm sequence with astonishing, critical directness (literally a lot of air spouted by dead men) - this celebration of Englishness is also its keenest critique; I could talk about how the film carefully modulates between the possibilities of madness, Expressionism or 'plausibility'.
While Peter is submitted to a surgery, Heaven agrees to open a case in court and judge his fate."A Matter of Life and Death" is an extraordinary film that combines drama, fantasy and romance in a wonderful ambiguous story.
I watched the film tonight for the nth time known to us in the U.K. as, "A Matter of Life & Death" and in the U.S.A as, "Stairway to Heaven".I feel I must add my eulogy to the litany of praise that has gone before by my esteemed colleagues and as my own tribute to the late Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger who produced this the Archers' greatest film.I had previously read MP's autobiography, "A Life in Movies" (1986) to understand more about this imaginative producer and director.Conceived as a film during WWII to help improve Anglo-American relations, it poses many philosophical questions to the viewer.The very justification of Britain's colonial past is examined during the celestial trial but it's central tenet is that whereas love is the most powerful force on Earth, in the heavens it is the law of the Universe which governs all things.How can the viewer not fall a bit in love with our beautiful American WAC controller, June (Kim Hunter), as she instinctivly feels the power of love for Sqn. Ldr.
Peter Carter (David Niven) from the time she first hears his hopeless speech on air from the burning cockpit of his Lancaster before he falls to Earth without a parachute, to her absolute willingness to prove her love for him (and to the jury), by stepping onto the "Stairway to Heaven" during the trial.She will provide the Hereafter with an acceptable substitute to make up for Peter's missing soul which should have been delivered by the French conducter, (Marius Goring) into the celestial account book, but due to English fog, could not be traced for 20 hours by which time his life had radically changed.This seems to indicate that throughout our lives, our destiny is being constantly changed by our relationships with the people we meet here on Earth and by circumstance.I was a bit surprised that colour was not used in the Hereafter scenes and B&W on Earth rather than vice-versa.However since most of the action takes place on Earth, we would have missed out on the lush "Technicolor" sequences.As a strong amateur chess player, I do own Dr. Alexander Alekhine's, "My Best Games of Chess 1924-1937" borrowed by the French conductor.Alekhine who was Russian by birth, became world champion in 1927 in Buenos Aires when he defeated the previously invincible Cuban, Jose Raoul Capablanca y Graupera in a titanic struggle.Alekhine died undefeated in Lisbon, Portugal in 1946 and this was the same year the film was produced.Incidentally Andre Danican Philidor, French by birth (1726-1795) and mentioned by the French conductor, was probably the strongest player of his day.This film was produced before computer cloning was invented for large crowd scenes (e.g.
"Gladiator") and the number of extras used in the trial scene takes your breath away as they are revealed rank upon rank as the camera recedes back into a wide angle shot.Indeed the scope of the film embraces Astronomy, Politics, Philosophy, Theology, Medical Science and Poetry amongst other disciplines.The staircase scene should have taken the Oscar for "Most Imaginative Set" as it transports the viewer to a place where time stands still in space.This unique film was written, directed and produced by Powell & Pressburger.You will want to see some of their other collaberations after this offering.I can recommend "Gone To Earth" and "The Red Shoes" both from this era.I rated it 8/10..
These were all highly patriotic films produced during and in the aftermath of WWII; which probably accounts for the initial impressions I had; but my admiration for them has increased not decreased in the succeeding years.Probably one reason for my impressionable nature at the time was that I was growing up during WWII and lived in Blackpool which was one of the training areas for RAF personnel and was familiar with all the uniforms and ranks both of RAF and American personnel as one of the biggest US air bases in the UK was at Warton less than 20 miles along the coast from Blackpool and the 'Yanks' flooded into Blackpool ( a holiday resort) at the weekends for R&R.It is of course possible to 'pick holes' in various features of the film, I could for instance 'Nit-Pick' about the cockpit layout of the stricken 'Lancaster' but these do not detract from the overall quality of the production and the 'Staircase to Heaven' has never been surpassed as an 'Effect'I have lost count of the number of time I have seen 'A Matter of Life and Death' but it must be in excess of 30 - I am probably 'Word Perfect' on the dialogue!
Powell/Pressburger was a remarkable directorial duo -- and five of their films are among my top 10, but my all-time favorite movie is A Matter of Life And Death -- known in the US as Stairway to Heaven.
The attention to detail is impeccable.Powell and Pressburger employ an ingenuous use of dye-transfer three-strip Technicolor and monochrome photography realized to perfection by the great cinematographer Jack Cardiff that compliments the story perfectly - as does the excellent musical score by Allan Gray.David Niven, Kim Hunter, Roger Livesey, Marius Goring and Raymond Massey head a fine cast and are quite excellent.
How wonderful!This is one of most beautiful movies ever done.It even surpasses,in Mickael Powell filmography the thriller "peeping tom"(1960) Words lack to describe such a witty and clever plot -which encompasses metaphysical meditation and schoolboys jokes-,such an inventive cinematography -which uses blazing color for the earth and black and white for the beyond-.This unique masterpiece recalls sometimes the second parts of Hathaway's "Peter Ibbetson"(1935)and Fritz Lang's "der müde Tod"(1921),and it literally dwarves such works as"les visiteurs du soir" (1942)" les jeux sont faits "(1947) "the sixth sense" (1999) Jacob's ladder (1990) wings of desire (1988) and its inferior remake "city of angels" (1998).I do not exaggerate:emotionally and technically "a matter of death" wins hands down.A fighter pilot (Niven) has to make a jump without a parachute.Before,he leaves a radio message to a woman at the air base(Hunter)Their conversation will make you cry if you listen with your heart.He should have died,but,because of the British fog,he 's caught between our earth and the other world.Then begins an extraordinary story,original to a fault,which would make blush a lot of scenarists of today.A French messenger from the beyond comes to take him where he should be but the pilot meets again the woman and they fall in love.Powell films now our brave old earth,now the beyond with a peerless virtuosity.His innovations are so powerful they will leave you on the edge of your seat:for instance ,our world often seems out of touch with reality:the desert beach,with this plane ,suddenly disturbing the strange quietness of the place(doesn't it remind you of an Hitchcock famous scene?);the beautiful -and almost magical - garden where the messenger meets his "customer" ;the doctor's observatory,where he watches his compatriots as if he were a deity himself;the "a midsummer's night dream" rehearsals which would seem completely irrelevant in another context:no connection with the plot at all,and however,it adds to the dreamlike atmosphere.The beyond,far from the grand guignol of today with its monsters and ridiculous paraphernalia ,is masterfully dreamed up:borrowing from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis",it features a huge stair with imposing statues ,and gigantic rooms with a cast of thousands.But in the prologue,Powell did show us the whole universe,and he ironically pointed out:"this is our earth;it's part of it all;reassuring isn't it?"Even the human beyond is a dust in the infinite space .What can the English/American rivalities mean when even the whole history will disappear someday.One should bear in mind that "A matter of death" was made first as a work of propaganda on request of the British government to sweeten the American /British relationship that were paradoxically tense at the time.Love ,like in "Peter Ibbetson" ,triumphs over human pettiness,and what can Boston Tea Party memories do against the girl's tears,collected on a rose?A movie to cherish,a movie to treasure,one of the very few which will still improve with time.See it at any cost..
I don't think I could ever expect such a bold approach from a 1946 film, its only 'dating' aspect being the context of the life-and-death situation.But the beginning doesn't leave you much time to digest the metaphysical material, as soon as we get to David Niven and Kim Hunter, we're literally hooked.
These guys were really ahead of their time.And I didn't reveal tenth of what makes the film so great, I should just say that there's a fourth major played by Roger Livesy (he was the romantic lead in "I Know Where I'm Going") as the Doctor who'll help Carter to plead his cause, you just don't live Heaven like a tavern and you've got to prove that even in the great scheme of things, the love between two people doesn't amount to a hill of beans.
At the end of the Second World War, relations between the Americans and the British were a little strained as, in the run-up to D-Day, the yanks won local hearts while they were "overpaid, oversexed and over here" and a British Government department suggested the idea of a locally-made film to improve perceptions.Written, produced and directed by the quintessentially British Michael Powell and the Hungarian-born Emeric Pressburger, the work may not have fully met its contemporary brief: British critics of the time thought the film was too pro-American and the Americans renamed the work "Stairway To Heaven" because they thought the word 'death' would kill its prospects.
But the movie played well with audiences on both sides of the Atlantic and it was so visually inventive and verbally clever that it has become a classic.At the heart of the story is an inversion of the usual 'yank gets the girl' narrative, as RAF bomber pilot Squadron Leader Peter Carter (David Niven) wins the affection of American radio operator June (Kim Hunter) in record time and audacious circumstances as he is about to bale out without a parachute.
The tribunal in the other world, pitting American prosecuter (Raymond Massey) against the British defender (Roger Livesey), features critiques and characteriisations of both nations, not least in the choice of the members of the two juries.The set designs - by German-born Alfred Junge - are simple but striking, especially the staircase to the other world and the scenes of that world, while there are a whole range of clever visual techniques, starting with the representation of earth in colour and the heavenly world in black & white and including the 'freezing' of 'real life' when Conductor 71 makes his earthly appearances and an amzing shot from an eyeball point of view.Even the statutes on the stairway are carefully chosen (all of the 17 famous personages named in Pressburger's copy of the script were believed to be sufferers of epilepsy).
Although Rashomon's plot and Kurosawa's style was gritty and serious while Powell's direction and Pressburger's script is enveloped in fantasy and charm, but the message in both the films in the end was to make the viewer believe in the salient aspects of humanity and especially in case of 'A Matter of Life and Death' Pressburger advocates the power of love to survive and forget the past in times of great distress after the war.
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger wrote and directed "A Matter of Life and Death," or "Stairway to Heaven," a fantasy in 1946 and starring David Niven, Kim Hunter, Marius Goring, Robert Coote, Richard Attenborough, Raymond Massey, and Roger Livesey.During and after the war, there were many films about angels, heaven, and spirits after death: "It's a Wonderful Life," "Here Comes Mr. Jordan," "The Bishop's Wife," "Heaven Can Wait" -- the loss of loved ones was part of the collective unconscious.
But Niven cheats death and stymies the well-ordered engineering of souls after death, provoking a trial in heaven as Niven seeks to stay with his love.Powell and Pressburger were one of cinema's most unique and visionary teams, and this film can be seen as a meditation on cinema as well as love (the afterlife scenes are in black and white; one character remarks "one is starved for Technicolor up here", and Powell and Pressburger regular Roger Livesey plays a village doctor who acts as omnipotent narrator to the village scenes he sees through his camera obscura) But most of all, "A Matter of Life and Death " is one of the great hand-holdingly romantic movies of all time..
Watching this movie, I kept thinking that the films, "Heaven Can Wait" and "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" got a lot of their stories from here.David Niven is adorable, and you never quite know what's really happening. |
tt0910865 | Doctor Strange | In Kathmandu, Nepal, the sorcerer Kaecilius and his zealots enter the secret compound Kamar-Taj and behead its librarian. They steal a few pages from an ancient, mystical text belonging to the Ancient One, a long-lived sorcerer who has taught every student at Kamar-Taj, including Kaecilius, in the mystic arts. The Ancient One pursues the traitors, but Kaecilius and his followers escape.
In New York City, Stephen Strange, an acclaimed but arrogant neurosurgeon, badly injures his hands in a car accident, leaving him unable to operate. Fellow surgeon and former lover Christine Palmer tries to help him move on, but Strange vainly pursues experimental surgeries to heal his hands. Strange eventually learns of Jonathan Pangborn, a paraplegic who mysteriously regained full use of his legs. Pangborn directs Strange to Kamar-Taj, where he is taken in by Mordo, a sorcerer under the Ancient One. The Ancient One demonstrates her power to Strange, revealing the astral plane and other dimensions such as the Mirror Dimension. She eventually agrees to train Strange, despite his arrogance which remind her of Kaecilius.
Strange studies under the Ancient One and Mordo, and from ancient books in the library that is now guarded by the master Wong. Strange learns that Earth is protected from threats from other dimensions by a shield generated from three buildings called Sanctums, in New York City, London, and Hong Kong, which are all connected and accessible from Kamar-Taj. The sorcerers' task is to protect the Sanctums, though Pangborn instead chose to channel mystical energy into just walking again. Strange progresses quickly, and secretly reads the text from which Kaecilius stole pages, learning to bend time with the mystical Eye of Agamotto. Mordo and Wong warn Strange against breaking the laws of nature, drawing a comparison to Kaecilius' desire for eternal life.
Kaecilius uses the stolen pages to contact the powerful Dormammu of the Dark Dimension, where time is non-existent. Kaecilius destroys the London Sanctum to weaken Earth's protection. The zealots then attack the New York Sanctum, killing its guardian, but Strange holds them off with the help of the Cloak of Levitation until Mordo and the Ancient One arrive. Strange and Mordo become disillusioned with the Ancient One after Kaecilius reveals that the Ancient One's long life is due to her drawing power from the Dark Dimension. Kaecilius mortally wounds the Ancient One and escapes to Hong Kong. Before dying, she tells Strange that he too will have to bend the rules to complement Mordo's steadfast nature in order to defeat Kaecilius. Strange and Mordo arrive in Hong Kong to find Wong dead, the Sanctum destroyed, and the Dark Dimension irresistibly engulfing Earth. Strange uses the Eye to reverse time and save Wong, then creates an infinite time loop inside the Dark Dimension that traps himself and Dormammu in the same moment of time. After repeatedly killing Strange to no avail, Dormammu finally gives in to Strange's demand that he leave Earth and take Kaecilius and his zealots with him in return for Strange breaking the time loop.
Disgusted by Strange and the Ancient One defying nature's laws, Mordo departs. Strange returns the Eye to Kamar-Taj, and takes up residence in the New York Sanctum to continue his studies. In a mid-credits scene, Strange decides to help Thor, who has brought his brother Loki to Earth to search for their father Odin. In a post-credits scene, Mordo confronts Pangborn and syphons the energy that he uses to walk, stating that Earth has "too many sorcerers". | violence | train | wikipedia | null |
tt4046784 | Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials | The opening scene shows hundreds of people crowded around a quarantined area. A young Thomas is brought by his mother to be taken away for protection on board a train. She tells him she loves him and they never see each other again. On the train, Thomas meets Dr. Ava Paige (Patricia Clarkson).In the present, Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) and the rest of the Gladers; Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), Minho (Ki Hong Lee), Frypan (Dexter Darden), and Winston (Alexander Flores) are brought to the desolated city following their escape from the Maze. Once they descend, a horde of infected people ("Cranks") start running towards them, but the mercenary soldiers ("mercs") escorting them fight them off. They take the Gladers into a facility run by Janson (Aidan Gillen). He says this place will provide the Gladers with shelter, food, clothes, and protection from "The Flare".Thomas joins Minho and the other boys in a cafeteria. They see other groups of people their age, meaning they weren't the only ones that survived a Maze. Frypan points out one boy, Aris (Jacob Lofland), who has been in a Maze the longest, and in one with mostly girls. Janson then walks in and calls on the names of several people for what is supposedly a relocation. Teresa's name is called and she joins the others as they walk out.That night, Aris gets Thomas out of bed and guides him through the vents to show him the room where a number of bodies are wheeled into a room for tests and research. Thomas starts to think they're doing something bad with Teresa.The next day, another group of people are called out. Thomas gets into a brief scuffle with a guard to steal his ID badge. That night, he and his friends sneak out of their rooms to find Teresa and the others. Thomas encounters them all hung up to a mechanism of sorts, and all of them are unconscious. Thomas then walks into a room where he sees Janson talking to Ava through a projection. He's been running tests to see who is immune to The Flare, and he mentions trying to find a group called The Right Arm and their grounds called Safe Haven. Thomas realizes Janson works for the World in Catastrophe Killzone Department (WCKD).Thomas gathers Newt, Minho, Frypan, Winston, and Aris, and tries to find Teresa so they can escape. They come across a merc who aims his stun gun at them, until Minho dropkicks him into a wall. Thomas grabs the gun and gets a doctor to take them to Teresa. They grab her and head out to the exit. Janson and some other mercs try to stop them, saying they won't last long out their in "The Scorch". Thomas fends them off and barely makes it out with the others.Now on the outside in a vast desert, the Gladers venture toward the mountains to find The Right Arm. They come across an abandoned building and discover the place has power, but when they turn it on, Thomas and Minho find themselves attacked by some Cranks. They chase after the boys, then the rest of the gang once they run back into each other. As they find an exit, Winston holds them off with a gun, but one of the Cranks attacks him and scratches him. The others pull him out.The Gladers continue walking through the mounds of sand as day breaks. Winston collapses, as he's been infected and it's spreading rapidly through his body. He only wants to be put out of his misery and not transform into a Crank. Frypan takes out a gun, which Newt takes from him and hands to Winston. Winston says his goodbyes to his friends, and they leave him. On their walk, they all hear a single gunshot.As the others rest for the night, Thomas spots a civilization in the distance. When the gang keeps moving, a massive lightning storm starts brewing. Powerful bolts strike down, hitting Minho but non-fatally. His friends grab him and they run into another building. There, they find dozens of chained Cranks. Out of the shadows comes Brenda (Rosa Salazar), who lives there with a group of survivors. She guides the Gladers to her leader/surrogate father figure Jorge (Giancarlo Esposito). He notices the tattoos on the backs of the Gladers' necks, realizing they came from a WCKD facility and that they are valuable. Jorge also learns they are looking for The Right Arm.Soon, a band of WCKD mercs, led by Janson, storms the place. Thomas runs away with Brenda, separating himself from the other Gladers. Jorge plays a song that triggers a series of explosives when it finishes. The facility collapses and kills the mercs. Thomas and Brenda run toward an exit as they are pursued by Cranks. They run outside into a collapsed building. Brenda slips and nearly falls through a window. A Crank emerges and attacks her, but Thomas breaks the glass and causes the Crank to fall out while he pulls Brenda up.The two head on to find the others and come across a nightclub of sorts, run by another survivor, Marcus (Alan Tudyk). He knows something about The Right Arm, but he doesn't tell Thomas and Brenda of his identity, and instead gives them a drink for them to get in the feel of the party. Thomas trips out a bit, and Brenda approaches him. They move in to kiss, but Thomas only sees himself kissing Teresa. He tells Brenda she isn't Teresa, leaving her disappointed.After experiencing trippy visions, Thomas wakes up to find Teresa and Minho sitting over him. He and Brenda are back with Jorge and the Gladers, and Thomas finds Jorge beating Marcus's face in. After a few good punches, Marcus tells the gang where they can find The Right Arm.The group takes Marcus's car and drives by a mountain with many abandoned cars. When they get out, gunshots are fired at them. Jorge hands Thomas a bomb to use a distraction, but they are cornered by two female shooters, Harriet (Nathalie Emmanuel) and Sonya (Katherine McNamara). They recognize Aris and decide the group poses no threat to them.The ladies guide the group to meet the rest of The Right Arm, including their leader Vince (Barry Pepper). Brenda collapses, as she's been bitten by a Crank, but her infection hasn't spread as quickly as with Winston. Vince nearly shoots her until he is stopped by a former WCKD scientist named Mary Cooper (Lili Taylor). She reveals that Thomas was an informant to share information on all of WCKD's acts. She gives Brenda an enzyme shot to stop the infection from spreading.Thomas sits by Brenda's bedside. She mentions losing her mom to The Flare. Thomas pulls out the small totem given to him by Chuck, as he remembers the boy's sacrifice.That night, Thomas talks with Teresa. She says that she watched her mom go mad from The Flare, and she didn't want to give up on the rest of the infected... which is why she's been working for WCKD the whole time. WCKD helicopters are seen heading toward the mountains, as Teresa called them and told them where they are. Thomas runs to warn everyone, only for the choppers to start firing missiles at the people. The mercs descend and start attacking people. Thomas departs from Jorge and Brenda to save his friends. Ava and Janson step out, confirming that Teresa has been with WCKD from the beginning. Janson shoots and kills Mary, and he nearly kills again until Jorge drives in on a van, leading to a battle between WCKD mercs and The Right Arm. Janson nearly kills Thomas until Brenda shoots him in the shoulder. Thomas uses Jorge's bomb on a group of mercs. Minho gets shot with a stun gun and is taken by the mercs. Ava, Teresa, and Janson escape with Minho as Thomas helplessly watches the craft take off.In the morning, the survivors seem to have lost hope. Thomas gathers what he can carry and decides he's going back to infiltrate WCKD, rescue Minho, and kill Ava. Although Vince thinks he's crazy, Harriet agrees that she wouldn't mind some revenge. Now, everyone looks to Thomas as they prepare to take WCKD down.To be continued...... | murder, violence, flashback, good versus evil, romantic, suspenseful, sci-fi | train | imdb | but unfortunately I got none of this answers, but what I did get were a lot more mysteries but no answers, but it's not like LOST where it leaves the audience thinking and putting things together and finding out the mysteries, but it's more of a dull and predictable mysteries every time they have some of the main characters talk to each other.This movie starts where the other one picked off, both in action and in mysteries, you will get 0 answers as to how the virus infected the world, or how the world was destroyed as it is, or what is the cure, and mainly you will see that there is no real motivation to be on wither side WICKD or the Gladers, because in fact what separates their motivations is just the way they use the antidote and nothing more, here there's more illogicalness than clever writing or a logical explanation of why Thomas and the others are against WICKD, but yeah the movies spends more of its time giving you more mysteries and making you more interested in seeing the final conclusion than actually put some sense into this chapter...
More, it seems like every time there is a dialog that can reveal key plot points or mysteries, or memories, is cut short and the subject quickly changes to something else, and it gets really frustrating, I was laughing as hard as I could with my friend in the cinema, while watching things like that or glass that breaks, then suddenly not breaks, then finally breaks, it's like the glass listens to the movie script, just like other things like storm or zombies.
However if you found the first movie to be a surprisingly entertaining, solid action flick;or if you don't mind the age of the main characters as long as the story deliveries, there's plenty to like here.
It seems as though the stunts doubles had little to do in comparison to the average action flick.If in the first movie you got 2 or 3 action scenes to keep you in the edge of your seat,in The scorch trials you'll find action almost from the beginning.I'm not a fan of non-stop action, but I was particularly impressed with Barry Pepper who I heard filmed his action scenes with a broken ankle.
If you don't mind these minor flaws on the script you might end up enjoying the ride.In my opinion, the strongest part of the movie, besides the thrilling action and good acting are the visuals.
Well let me tell you, films based on books or comics and stuff like that change things around to make the movie stand on its own and be appealing to multiple people.
The action, the music, the emotion, the characters and the story I found was so fitting, exciting, entertaining and perfect for the Maze Runner movies.
If you are like me whose been waiting to see this film until the last minute, now would be the time to see it; as it is now appearing to me that the lifespan torch of 'The Scorch Trials) is about to get snubbed out in the town I live in.
OK, so I found Scorch Trials exciting and more complete as a movie.It also had a better cliffhanger in my opinion, because I felt like I needed to watch the next part NOW.
The actual hero in the movie, was Aris (Jacob Lofland), who done all of the hard work by getting all of the information to escape the original compound but his efforts are put aside through the rest of the film, and all of the concentration is on Thomas (Dylan O'Brien), who in my opinion, was a poor ring leader.
Out of the whole cast, none of them really stood out for me but I did like Aidan Gillen (Janson), as the villain and Barry Pepper (Vince) as the brave "one man army" type of character, so I'm looking forward to seeing them in Maze Runner: The Death Cure, which is due out in 2017.
I just hope that there is an epic showdown because this mediocre sequel could do with a boost.Budget: $61million Worldwide Gross: $312.5millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their action/sci-fi/thrillers starring Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Giancarlo Esposito, Ki Hong Lee, Dexter Darden, Patricia Clarkson, Aidan Gillen, Barry Pepper, Nathalie Emmanuel and Rosa Salazar.
If guys want to watch a action packed film with a really good plot then you should go for this one.
At the end of the 130 minute running time, there are still a lot of questions about the true intentions of WCKD, or is that name alone already a giveaway clue?There was no more maze in this movie anymore for the characters to run through.
Action heavy is the latest sequel of the M.R. The sequel to the Maze Runner leaves a lot questions unanswered, but it delivers a slightly better film than the first one.
However, development of story will leave some viewers confused and fans unsettle as it feels like it's going from one place to another with few explanations.(Maybe gearing up for the last installment?)Overall the M.R: Scorch Trials with its' pros and cons is worth a watch from fans and non fans alike..
I would say that people who aren't familiar with the trilogy or the characters might find this film tedious.In my opinion, it was a great movie filled with many moments that neither excited me nor moved me, yet I was captivated.
I like everything about it.It has suspense and good sense of humor,too.The film has great effects and some high class action.It was a little bit scary in some scenes but i don't think it's something to prevent someone of seeing it,unless they are younger than 16..
Overall, "The Scorch Trials" isn't original by a mile, you can see type cast actors from a mile, and if you know their acting backgrounds, their characters in this movie won't surprise you.
The pacing of this film is very much an issue and if they'd edited out at least some 20 minutes of the film it could've been much more engaging.The cast is pretty solid and Dylan O'Brien turns in a charismatic lead performance, but the issue here is that these characters aren't developed at all and the action scenes seem to take center stage.
I was excited to see the scorch trials after watching the first movie and being a fan of the books.
Its ending all but assured i had to see the sequel, and today, i saw it...It's really really good,i loved it, i cant say if it did match my expectations or not because i didn't know almost nothing about the sequel nor i saw much about it, because i chose not to, but i can say i liked the original a bit more.The story picks up right after the first film, and it is generally about explaining the tons of mysteries left to explain in the first film (mostly in that ending), a bit more about WICKED, who are the good ones and the bad ones and what the characters want to do with all that information.Though there are still some things to explain, since in this film its all very vague and rarely mentioned, like what concretely happened to the world, and how the virus started and what really is the virus and the origins of WICKED.
I have never read the book and not sure I am going to but all I know is the movies are definitely worth watching.
The silk purses and sows ear proverb come to mind as I do not think it was possible to redeem this movie no matter how good the acting could have been.You can pick the plot from only a few minutes into the film , so no surprises there.
I have not read the books, I went with the expectation of watching a good movie and saw a great one!
While evading Cranks (zombie-like creatures affected by the outside world's solar flares), they must venture out to this metaphorically wider maze to find any other rebels out there fighting for the same cause to put an end to W.C.K.D.'s nefarious plans.With this game of "cat-and-mouse" being played nearly throughout this interesting sequel, it started to remind me of (most notably) George Orwell's novel 1984 and the 2008 techno-thriller movie, Eagle Eye. Because like the latter, The Scorch Trials had this whole theme of paranoia, deception, and loyalties being tested mixed together.
Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, Revolution) as rebel leader Jorgè was certainly a change of pace compared to his TV characters he's known well for, but his inclusion into this film series proved to be notable for his style of acting, especially since he's no stranger to post-apocalyptic scenarios.As a whole of over two hours ten minutes running time, the cast delivered great performances and the action sequences were such a nail-biter that you'll miss the best part if you turn your attention away for only a moment.
Despite not having any directorial involvement in any other titles prior to this film series, director Wes Ball is starting to demonstrate that he can helm a movie on this second round of maze running.
Had to join just so I could write this review, I liked the first Maze runner, Not read the books, but I liked the concept behind the story.when i saw the second installment was out, I got exited about seeing it, While the film started OK and I thought we where going to get more, quickly realized that it was gonna be a zombie flick, which i enjoy, but no then most of the film is the cast running towards a mountain hideaway, with them then running towards a smaller hideaway, where they are all ambushed, even though it was nighttime and they where with renegades, The enemy managed to sneak up on them with helicopters and lights, i actually left the cinema, it was a complete waste of money and time, and whoever made this has just spoiled any sequels.
Watching "Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials" (PG-13, 2:11) is a lot like experiencing that haunted house.This film is the sequel to 2013's "The Maze Runner" and is the second adaptation of James Dashner's initial "Maze Runner" trilogy (which has since added a prequel and is about to add another).
The story is even more divergent (pun intended) from its source material than the previous movie was, this time preserving not much more than the mythology, main characters and the most important of plot points.The action picks up right where it left off at the end of the first film, with Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) and the remaining Gladers, Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Minho (Ki Hong Lee), Teresa Agnes (Kaya Scodelario), Frypan (Dexter Darden) and Winston (Alexander Flores), taken by those who rescued them to a large facility where there's food and fresh clothes.
I have read ALL the books and watch the first and second movie and I know that scorch trials is a bit different to the book but it's amazing it continuously draws me in.It is full and suspense and tension.I Don't CARE WHAT PEOPLE SAY but this movie was awesome one of a kind and is personally my FAVORITE movie of all time.I never knew it would be that good but it ABSOLUTELY blew me away.CRAZY BOUT THIS FILM 😘😍😍😍😍😍😍 forget everyone else this movie is BAE LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!
Yes there are again a few cliché moments, that make you question the characters, otherwise it really is a truly entertaining film, with some of the better action scenes I've seen this year.
I won't be seeing the third as this has nothing to do with the franchise I liked.I understand that the scorch trials book is a good read but would not have adapted to a good movie, but to turn a science experiment into resident evil ruined the whole point of the books, that the kids depended on one another, And never had a clue what was going on..
It gives out a great portion of the story...13 minutes - and you don't know much, just like the characters, you constantly try to figure out, what's going on 26 minutes - a bit lame, but it keeps you entertained 44 minutes - I appreciate the post-apocalyptic scenery, it really looks nice 1h 9 minutes - I am not really fond of those kids, but the action is quite solid 1h 23 minutes - the film has got so much potential, I am pleasantly surprised most of the time, yet there is something off about it.
Those set pieces alone are worth watching if anyone else checks the movie out on DVD.That being said, there are some drawbacks that disappointed those who loved the first film and the book series.
There's some of it here but not enough considering the weak writing and it's deviation from the source material.Overall, The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is a decent enough sequel and it delivered what it promised in the trailers, but sadly, it wasn't nearly as engaging as the first film.
S. Nowlin to help him with the book-to-movie adaptation of The Scorch Trials.The second installment picks up right where the first one ended.
Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) and his fellow Gladers keep searching for clues about the real purpose of WCKD while teaming up with a resistance group of survivors in the middle of the Scorch, a destroyed landscape with virus-infected humans.The Scorch Trials had a tough task to start its story considering that the ending of the first film is pure nonsense and the reason why I almost did not rate it positively.
This time around, the ending at least makes sense and it effectively finishes the movie, instead of completely destroying its story like in the previous one.One of the exceptional features of the first movie is the cast and everyone that keeps portraying their roles in this one becomes even better.
For example, Aidan Gillen (Janson) and Giancarlo Esposito (Jorge), from the famous Game Of Thrones and Breaking Bad. With so many talents added to the cast, it is a pity that their characters are not developed at all ...The second half of the film entirely changes the movie and it turns into something I've seen a thousand times in action films.
One of the biggest concepts of the plot of the book was the actual "Scorch Trials," which was never even explained or touched in the movie, it was just teenagers and a middle aged man running in a post apoctlyptic town with zombies looking for "The Right Hand" which doesn't even exist in the book.
if you are a fan of dystopian and post-apocalyptic movies, you will definitely love this sequel to bits.It is adventurous, mysterious and exciting to watch every time!
But to those of us that have read the books, we would like to know what the director was on when he was making this movie.
'MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS': Three Stars (Out of Five)Post-apocalyptic sci-fi sequel, to the 2014 hit; both films are based on the book series, by James Dashner.
And even the horror-movie-like-aesthetics remain, passionate about showing the terror of these creatures and the probability of losing any major character (if only they are well developed, but still effective in suspense, anyway.)Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is fun, but not by much.
In other words, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials doesn't have enough material to justify its 131 minutes of running time, even though it certainly tried, introducing more disposable characters, new settings well created by the special effects and some slight clues regarding the road the third (and last, I guess?) film will take.
Anyway, the point is that, despite its mediocrity and unlike most of the cinematographic adaptations of that literary genre, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials didn't bore me and it didn't make me feel like wasting my time, and that's enough to make it worthy of a slight recommendation..
Being someone who loved the books in the Maze Runner series I couldn't wait to see this film, as I thought the first installment was brilliant, however by the end of The Scorch Trials I wish I hadn't bothered.
Forgoing the overrated and overstated hype of the now thankfully finished Hunger Games franchise and the terrible blandness of the Divergent/Insurgent series and what your left with for futuristic Gen Y kicks is the highly enjoyable and baggage free Maze Runner series, a series that seems to know and understand what it is and has fun doing it along the way.Returning to the director's chair once more, Wes Ball and his cast of willing young stars continue on with their good work they started within the original film and while The Scorch Trials misses out a little on the underlying mystery and unique premise that propped up the original adventure there's still a sense of adventure and thrills that starts off the new film and continues on throughout.So often films cut from the same cloth of The Scorch Trials try and bring gravitas and unnecessary emotional baggage to the stories that needed to instead streamline their focus onto their strengths not ad to an already loaded premise and that's where the Scorch Trials really succeeds.We know just enough to care and hero's' and villains don't need to much exposition to make us understand why they tick and Ball has a blast exploring the now 'crank' infested wasteland that was once America and as he did with the first Maze Runner adventure action comes on thick and fast yet is handled with a certain flair that makes it that much more engaging.While the film's final stanza falls a little flat, scenes including a frenetic chase through an abandoned shopping mall, an explosive music led factory fight and a tunnel escape that leads into a fallen skyscraper are all a league above usual such event films and Ball should be credited with keeping the film ticking along at a pace that feels justified in its 2 hour run time.The Scorch Trials is under no illusions as to what it is and while dialogue and characters are all stock standard this is a highly enjoyable and perfectly paced dystopian adventure film that has successful marked the Maze Runner series as the best of the bunch of recent Gen Y book adaptations and a highly effective actioner in its own right.3 post-apocalyptic Gustavo Fring's out of 5.
I really enjoyed watching the first Maze Runner but I didn't think this was quite as good.The Scorch Trials got some great and intense, action packed scenes, good acting and cool environments but that's it. |
tt0054885 | Flower Drum Song | During the potpourri overture and opening credits, oriental figures portray a journey from Hong Kong to San Francisco aboard a cargo ship.
When the action begins a young Chinese girl, Mei Li, and her father, Dr. Han Li, peer out a porthole in the ship as they sail into San Francisco harbor. They have stowed away in crates in the cargo hold of the ship. Later after the cargo has been unloaded onto the dock, Mei Li and her father climb out of their crates and wander the streets of San Francisco Mei Li thinks it is a wonderful city and must be a holy place since its named for a saint.
They wander into a park, where they ask several people for help to find the address of Madam Fong who has chosen Mei Li as the bride for her son, Sammy. Even though most of the people in the park are Orientals, none of them can read Chinese. The newly arrived illegal immigrants have no money, so Mei Li proposes that she and her father give a show. She will sing a song with the flower drum: "A Hundred Million Miracles." The lyrics sing about miracles occurring every day. During this rendition, she sings about the miracle of changing weather. The gathered crowd rewards their performance with money, but as they are collecting it a policeman asks if they have a license. After explaining that they are looking for the address of Sammy Fong, the policeman escorts them to Sammy's nightclub, the Celestial Gardens.
Linda Low and several Celestial Gardens chorus girls perform "Fan Tan Fannie" as the floorshow. During the number Dr. Li, Mei Li and the policeman enter. The policeman asks to speak to Sammy. When this totally assimilated hipster arrives, he tells the officer that these are the folks he has been looking for and recognizes a photo of Mei Li that his mother had shown him. Sammy's mother is insisting on his union with a traditional Chinese girl in an arranged marriage. In the club's kitchen, Sammy feeds the starving immigrants. Mei Li likes American cooking, but Sammy is insulted; he contends his club serves the best Chinese cooking in the bay area. Dr. Li asks Sammy if he intends to honor his marriage proposal. Linda, Sammy's long-time girlfriend, comes into the room just in time to overhear this question. She furiously stalks out of the room. Sammy goes after her and promises Linda he'll unload the Chinese bride the next day. If Linda will understand, he promises to buy her a new convertible.
The following day Sammy visits Madam Liang, the sister-in-law of Master Wang, who wants a traditional bride for his son, Wang Ta. Later, Wang Ta describes himself as half American, half Chinese. He is Americanized enough to want to choose his own wife, which is a break with his Chinese heritage. Sammy tells Madam Liang about Mei Li and asks her to show the girl's photograph to her brother-in-law, which she agrees to do.
When Madam Liang presents Mei Li's photograph to Master Wang, he is delighted with the girl. Master Wang is very traditional and has been vainly attempting to keep two sons from being seduced by the American life-style. These two elderly Orientals sing "The Other Generation," a song about the gulf between first generation Chinese immigrants and their offspring.
Master Wang's youngest son, Wang San, is entirely Americanized. Wearing a baseball uniform, Wang San sings his version of "The Other Generation" to two smaller oriental girls. Wang San and the girls sing and dance to the song, which is about the older generation preaching to them about the old days and the way things were when they were growing up.
Wang Ta had asked his father for some money, so Wang Chi-Yang takes $100 from a chest under his bed to take to the bank to get change (Master Wang doesn't trust banks). As Master Wang is returning from the bank, openly counting his money, a man robs him. Later, Madam Liang forces her brother-in-law to open a bank account.
Shortly after this incident, Sammy arrives with Mei Li for Master Wang to inspect her. After Master Wang looks her over, she volunteers to sing a flower drum song. In this version of "A Hundred Million Miracles," Mei Li sings about the miracle of making music. Master Wang is very impressed and asks Mei Li and her father to stay with him so he can present her to his son. Master Wang is persuaded by his sister-in-law to allow his son and Mei Li to fall in love naturally American style. But, Master Wang will only allow a short period of time before he intervenes.
Wang Ta is dazzled by Linda Low's charms. He telephones her and asks her for a date. She agrees to one immediately, but needs twenty minutes to get ready. As she dresses, she sings "I Enjoy Being a Girl." Linda loves everything about being feminine, including her curvy figure, her frilly clothes, and her silken curls. She also loves to receive flowers, to talk for hours on the telephone and even appreciates guys whistling at her when she wears a bikini, although she pretends to be offended.
Linda and Ta go for a ride in her new convertible; she tells Ta the car was given to her by her brother, but it was actually purchased by Sammy. During their excursion, Ta asks Linda to wear his fraternity pin (a symbol of going steady), which she agrees to do. She hopes her relationship with Ta will make Sammy jealous enough to propose.
When Ta sneaks into his house very late, Mei Li is still awake. She tells him she and her father are guests of his father and that she has come to this country to get married. As Ta retreats to his bedroom, he tells Mei Li, I hope you'll like it here, which the girl misinterprets as his approval of their relationship. She has no idea of his infatuation with Linda Low, so she sings "I Am Going to Like It Here," as she contemplates living with Ta in the Wang household. The next morning as Mei Li delivers Master Wang's breakfast to his bedroom, she is still singing "I Am Going to Like It Here." She informs him that she met his eldest son the previous evening.
Helen Chao, an excellent seamstress, brings the graduation gown she has made for Ta and wants to present it to him as a gift (she is obviously in love with Ta, but he doesn't seem to think of her romantically). Ta invites Helen to the party they are having after his graduation. He also mentions that his aunt, Madam Liang, is becoming a U.S. citizen, so they will be celebrating that also. Helen volunteers to make a happy coat for Madam Liang.
Linda pressures Ta to get married. She tells him she'll bring her brother to the graduation party to settle the details.
Master Wang presents Mei Li with a beautiful American gown to wear to the party. When she models it, Ta is very impressed. Mei Li tells him that his brother, San, says he only likes American tomatoes.
At the after-graduation party, Madam Liang is presented an award as the best student in her citizenship class. In honor of the occasion, she sings "Chop Suey," in which she compares living in the U.S. to the Chinese dish invented by Americans. The song is primarily a catalog of Fifties famous personalities and fads. To her, American society, like Chop Suey, is a melting pot. A dance involving many of the party guests follows. The dance too is a mixture of dance styles including a line dance, a Twenties-style Charleston, rock 'n' roll and jazz.
Linda and her Sea Captain-brother arrive at the party (actually the comic from the Celestial Gardens is posing as her brother). When Linda's brother mentions Ta's proposal of marriage to Master Wang, the elder Wang coughs (he always coughs when things don't go his way). Mei Li overhears their conversation and becomes upset, but Helen reassures her that Ta isn't really in love with Linda. Mei Li is so upset that she and her father tell Master Wang they must leave, but Master Wang talks Mei Li into giving Ta a little more time.
Sammy is also at the party and calls Linda's hand (of course, he recognizes the comic from his club). He tells her he knows she doesn't love Ta. Linda complains that she and Sammy have been together for five years and nothing has happened (meaning no permanent commitment). At the New Year's parade (held on New Year's Eve) we hear an excerpt from John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever." Linda is on one of the parade's floats. She steps off the float to sing "Grant Avenue," a song about one of the principal streets in the largest Chinatown outside of Asia. She sings about the thoroughfare being a western street with eastern manners where visitors can eat shark-fin soup or bean cake fish. Deviously, Sammy invites the Wang family to his club. Master Wang doesn't want to go, but Sammy tells him if he wants to break up his son's romance with Linda, he should be there.
Before the New Year's Eve show at the Celestial Gardens, Linda asks Sammy if she can quit that evening, but Sammy talks her into staying for the big New Year's Eve crowd. He asks if Ta had ever seen her act. She tells him no, that's the reason she wants to quit.
Master Wang, Madam Liang, Ta, Mei Li and Dr. Li enter the Celestial Gardens and are seated as Sammy's guests. The club announcer, Frankie Wing, the comic who played Linda's brother at the graduation party, performs "Gliding Through My Memory" about all the girls he remembers. The club's show girls are all Orientals, but they portray girls from Ireland, Sweden, England, Spain, France, etc. as Frankie sings. The last lines of the song sing about none of these girls comparing with the girl right here and Linda comes out to perform a fan dance (a mock strip tease; in the original stage version it was more of an actual strip number). When Ta sees Linda's performance, he is shocked. Meanwhile, Sammy is smiling because everything is going as he planned. Towards the end of her dance, Linda opens and closes her fans right in Master Wang's face. He coughs loudly and immediately exits the club, followed by the rest of his party. At the end of the number, Linda dumps a bucket of ice on Sammy's head.
Helen, who witnessed what transpired, follows Ta and goes with him to the Ricksha Bar to drink Tiger Bone Wine for the New Year. Early the next morning, we see Helen supporting Ta, who is drunk, as they enter her apartment. Before Ta sleeps off his drunkenness, Helen tells him that Linda has been Sammy's girl for five years. After Ta drifts off to sleep, Helen sings the very beautiful "Love, Look Away" about her unrequited love for Ta. Although she has cared for Ta for a long time, she begs love to leave and set her free. This musical sequence also includes a ballet-type dance that involves Ta and several other dancers. At the end of the number, she slides away from Ta's reach. The next morning, Helen has fixed breakfast for Ta. Before he wakes, Mei Li brings one of Master Wang's coats for Helen to mend. While she is there Mei Li recognizes Ta's coat draped around a kitchen chair. Mei Li jumps to conclusions and leaves horrified. Just after she leaves, Ta awakes, quickly dresses and, certain that his father will be worried, hurries away.
When Ta returns home, he apologizes to his father and tells him he was right about Linda Low. Master Wang calls Mei Li, but when she sees Ta, she runs into the garden crying. Ta follows her and tells her he wants to tell her a story. His story evolves into the song "You Are Beautiful." The lyrics tell about a flower boat with singing girls drifting down a stream in the Hwang Ho Valley. One of the girls was a beautiful, small, shy girl. Ta sings that Mei Li is the girl he saw, the girl he heard laugh, as the boat sailed past. He knew that she was the girl he would love some day. During the entire song, Mei Li's eyes are downcast. When the song concludes, she tells him she learned that he wanted another girl not Linda and she tells him about seeing his coat in Helen's apartment. She says her heart hurt so much that she does not love him anymore and she runs inside. A short time later, Mei Li and her father leave Master Wang's house to pursue the marriage contract between Mei Li and Sammy Fong.
Back at the club Sammy and some of his buddies are playing poker when his mother and uncle arrive. Linda bursts into the gambling room to complain about the dirty trick Sammy played on the Wang family. Sammy gets his mother and uncle to go on ahead to the family association meeting promising to meet them there soon. After they depart, Sammy tries to sooth Linda's feelings. He tells her he did her a favor and besides he and Linda belong together. And to prove it, he asks her to marry him. She immediately and enthusiastically accepts. They sing about their life of marital bliss in "Sunday." They are looking forward to spending lazy, lovely Sundays together. The song develops into quite a dance that includes a maid, a guest couple, a gardener, a butler on skates, a couple of Sammy's former girlfriends, a beatnik couple and a son dressed in a cowboy outfit.
At the family association meeting Dr. Li presents the contract that Madam Fong signed for her son to marry Mei Li. The association pledges that the contract will be honored. Madam Fong is ecstatic and takes Mei Li and her father to her house.
Later, Sammy goes to his mother's to tell her he has finally decided to settle down and get married. Of course, he is talking about Linda, but Madam Fong has other ideas. She has already prepared a wedding announcement for the marriage of her son, Samuel Adams Fong to Mei Li, the daughter of Dr. Han Li, former Professor of Philosophy at Peking University.
When Linda sees the announcement she is decidedly upset. Sammy tries to convince her that nothing has changed, except his mother expects him to marry Mei Li. One evening at Madam Fong's, Sammy and Mei Li are attempting to get to know each other and to find something in common. Finally, Sammy asks if she would like to see how he spends his evenings. He takes her to a gambling casino where he loses, to a bar where all the girls know him intimately, to a beatnik hangout (the song "Like a God" from the Broadway musical was changed into a beatnik poem for the film version). Early the following morning to further dissuade Mei Li, Sammy sings "Don't Marry Me," in which he itemizes his many faults and the various reasons why he would make a lousy husband. The problem is it's too late; the contract is signed and sealed.
Before the wedding, Ta visits Mei Li, and they realize they are deeply in love with one another. They agree to try to come up with an idea that will get Mei Li out of the marriage contract.
After Wang Ta leaves, Mei Li watches an old TV western about illegal immigrants called "wet backs."
At the wedding ceremony, just before her marriage to Sammy is sealed, Mei Li declares that because she entered the country illegally and her back is wet, the contract is invalid. Ta volunteers to marry Mei Li and Sammy and Linda agree to make it a double wedding. | romantic | train | imdb | Forget the PC and enjoy the movie, musical numbers, actors and film titles..
The last time I saw Flower Drum Song on a big screen was at the Asian Pacific American Studies event at New York University, spurred on by David Henry Hwang's Broadway revival which received favorable reviews except for one paper.
Right around this time, Kwan, France Nuyen, and Nobu McCarthy all came along at the same time and seemed to battle for the same parts.Two songs that are overlooked gems are You Are Beautiful which Johnny Mathis sang beautifully on record and Love Look Away.
As a Japanese-American raised in the 1960's, I always had mixed feelings about the 1961 film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Chinese-American musical comedy.
Although it was refreshing to see so many Asian faces in a mainstream studio movie (granted several Japanese-American actors in Chinese roles), the portrayals always struck me as trite and catering to pre-existing stereotypes.
Moreover, there is the music, which while not grade-A material from the legendary team, has enough of their recognizably melodious style to make the whole affair quite entertaining now.Set in San Francisco's Chinatown in the late 1950's, the soufflé-light story, written by Joseph Fields, is a family-oriented, musical-chairs romantic comedy focused on East-West cultural differences primarily in the well-to-do Wang household headed by the ultra-traditional Master Wang.
Looking like a porcelain doll brought to life, Miyoshi Umeki lends her uniquely plaintive quality to the role of Mei Li, and she sings with quiet clarity on her trademark song, "A Hundred Million Miracles".
Of the supporting cast, two performers stand out - teenaged Patrick Adiarte dancing energetically as younger son Wang Tan, and as the lovelorn Helen, Reiko Sato leads a stunning ballet on the show's best song, "Love, Look Away" (her voice is dubbed by legendary soprano Marilyn Horne).
If we ever have any sons, he will probably be like Wang San in many ways and she could see the old man's reaction to his youngest son's could be very similar between her father and our son yet to be conceived.What she thought was laughably bad was "A Hundred Million Miracles" trying to be passed off as a real flower drum song.
They missed a few things obviously, but for two Jewish boys from NYC, R and H as well as Joseph Fields libretto did an awesome job of keeping it real, much more so here than with the King and I which both play and movie are banned forever in Thailand because the Thai people find it so offensive.As far as David Hwang's remake of FDS goes, I really can't comment on it because I haven't read it or seen it.
I love the novel and I think the original play and movie missed opportunities for beefing up the Helen Chao character better.
She loves the characters in this movie; in many ways, they brought China to life for her and what it is like living in a totally new culture, not understanding anything at all, or in her case thinking you know a foreign culture because you have worked with foreigners and finding it's completely different over here.Kudos and thank you to RandH, Ross Hunter and his team in creating a movie that has aged so gracefully, (as has Ms. Kwan) for the most part, and making serious cultural and generational issues that will probably never go away fun.
Soon, you hear "A Hundred Million Miracles, with doll-like Miyoshi Umeki, and other great songs like "Love Look Away," and "Sunday." The choreography is as impressive as the music, in particular the erotic dance sequence for "Love Look Away," with beautiful Reiko Sato as Helen.
Nancy Kwan as Linda Low, of course, looks great, sings well, and slinks around very nicely, as do the many other lovely Asian dancers who grace this testament to Chinese American culture and oriental beauty.
The former became one of the most successful and consistently employed oriental actors in American film and television, while the latter went on to play Nick Yemana on "Barney Miller." Although there are some corny aspects to "Flower Drum Song," these are more than counterbalanced by the many interesting elements that occur throughout the movie.
Worth the wait - director Henry Koster's Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Flower Drum Song" finally available on DVD as Special Edition.
The 1961 musical "Flower Drum Song" is a fabulous Ross Hunter [1] production (top-notch art direction, cinematography, costume design, set decoration, film editing and sound).
Directed by Henry Koster [2], music and lyrics from the popular pair of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein 2nd, with Alfred Newman supervised & conducted the music score which included a wide spectrum from Asian 'flower drum song' tune, to jazzy rhythm, strings orchestral for ballet/dance pieces, to montage songs and cabaret show numbers / big band melodies; associate vocal music arranger Ken Darby, and simply marvelous choreography by Hermes Pan.Such a stellar cast: Nancy Kwan as Linda Low and Jack Soo as Sammy, Miyoshi Umeki as Mei Li and James Shigeta as Ta, Juanita Hall (of "South Pacific" 1958 fame) as Madam Liang / 'my wife's sister,' Benson Fong as Ta's father / 'my sister's husband,' Reiko Sato as Helen Chao (the seamstress), and what an amazing, versatile dancer Patrick Adiarte is (his debut role was in "The King and I" 1956 as the eldest prince opposite Yul Brynner).
The musical numbers and songs are catchy and entertaining, matching key segments of the storyline: A Hundred Million Miracles; (What Are We Going To Do About) The Other Generation; Chop Suey; I Enjoy Being A Girl; Sunday (Sweet Sunday); Fan Tan Fannie; Grant Avenue; Love Look Away (sung by Marilyn Horne); Don't Marry Me; and more.
If you don't usually watch musicals, give "Flower Drum Song" a try, it's drama and humor would provide an enjoyable time.[1] Memorables produced by Ross Hunter: "The Chalk Garden" 1964 (d: Ronald Neame; Hayley Mills, Deborah Kerr, John Mills); "Pillow Talk" 1959 (with Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Thelma Ritter, Tony Randall); "Imitation of Life" 1959 (d: Douglas Sirk; Lana Turner, Juanita Moore, Sandra Dee) [2] Favorites directed by Henry Koster: "Three Smart Girls" 1936 with Deanna Durbin; "The Singing Nun" 1966 with Debbie Reynolds.
Nancy Kwan has never looked lovelier as Linda Loo and Jack Soo is always a delight.Juanita Hall brings her great presence to the role of Madame Liang and Miyoshi Umeki and James Shigeta are two fine performers.
The score contains a few great numbers like "Love, Look Away" and "I Enjoy Being a Girl" (In spite of the sexist lyrics, it's a fun song), but overall is not as good as other Rodgers and Hammerstein scores.
The cast is great, and includes several veterans of the Broadway show, most notably former Oscar-winner Miyoshi Umecki, who is utterly enchanting as Mei Li, completely rising above the characterization of a placid "picture bride" who just sort of goes with the flow and doesn't question any of her "superiors" (men) with a performance that is sweetly comical and even a little touching at times.
Other Broadway veterans Patrick Adiarte (You would never guess he was the same guy who was that annoying Crown Prince in the movie of The King and I) and Juanita Hall (from South Pacific) are likewise great, and Jack Soo is hilarious as the hip, deadpan Sammy Fong.
Of the actors chosen just for the film, James Shigeta has a pleasent voice and acting style as Wang Ta, and Benson Fong is good enough in the rather stereotypical role of the stubbornly traditionalist Chinese father.
Reiko Sato is pretty good as Helen Chao and Marilyn Horne does a beautiful job of dubbing her in "Love, Look Away." Aside from the great cast, the orchestrations are wonderful and better than the Broadway arrangements, and the choreography by Hermes Pan is really, really good.
And while perhaps Rodgers and Hammerstein couldn't quite bring the depth to this story of Chinese immigrants adjusting to life in San Francisco's Chinatown, they did it with great charm and overall respect.
It makes sense to finally have this story told from a truly Asian-American perspective, and hopefully, though some of Hwang's choices sound a bit odd, (Putting in something about CHinese opera, cutting Sammy Fong and the whole "Other Generation" song and idea, which is pretty crucial to the original, and making Mei Li a refugee from Chinese Communism) hopefully this new version will further allow people to reconsider their view of this show and its film version..
Nancy Kwan looks beautiful as Linda Low and Jack Shoo and the handsome James Shigata as the romantic lead are wonderfully cast.
I think his acting is just OK, but his singing STINKS, and for me, ruined the 2 songs "Sunday" and my favorite "Don't Marry me." How Richard Rodgers was OK with not dubbing his singing is beyond me.There are some pretty jazzed up orchestrations, which work well in Grant Avenue and Chop Suey, but some orchestrations are better in the Broadway version (again, "Sunday" and "Don't Marry Me.").
This was the only Rodgers and Hammerstein movie not produced and released by 20th Century Fox, and I wish it had been because then we would have a DVD.Highly recommend this movie, just sit back, enjoy some great musical numbers, acting, and a unique and involving story..
A great deal of that charm resides in Nancy Kwan, who looks sexy and gorgeous in this and played a large role in many an adolescent fantasy as a result of her appearance in this film.
Flower Drum Song is a lighthearted musical comedy set in San Francisco's Chinatown about old-fashioned Chinese and modern Chinese-Americans clashing over tradition and trying to find romance.
Some of the more memorable songs include: "I Enjoy Being a Girl" (with that famous three-way mirror scene), "Love Look Away", and "Don't Marry Me".
In its "modern" language, hairstyles, costumes, and attitudes, the film also captures the look and feel, the optimism and exuberance of that early sixties/Kennedy era perfectly.Flower Drum Song was unusual not only because it featured an (almost) all-Asian cast, but also because it depicted Chinese-Americans as _Americans_: a Chinese-American businessman, college student, banker, policeman, standup comic, yes, even a Chinese-American showgirl.
Although the characterizations are not very deep or serious, the film is a fine showcase for some early Hollywood Asian acting talent: Nancy Kwan is gorgeous and is great in all those dance numbers; Jack Soo has a hilarious deadpan humor; James Shigeta is a real heart-throb, and Miyoshi Umeki is as sweet as can be.Look for a brief cameo by Richard Rodgers during the "You be the Rock" number!.
He tries to pawn the girl off on Wang Ta (James Shigeta)...but HE'S in love with Linda also.Pretty unknown Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.
Aside from a few stereotypical Chinese characters I didn't find this racist at all--I think anyone accusing this film of that is way off base.
Now, when you consider that many of the cast were Japanese-Americans, viz., Jack Soo, James Shigeta, Miyoshi Umeki, maybe they thought it might be overloading it a bit.
Sure, there are great numbers, Grant Ave, San Francisco, California, USA...I Enjoy Being a Girl...A Hundred Million Miracles, and others, but this play never connected the same way that other Rogers and Hammerstein works did.
Keeping most of the original cast was a smart move, Myoshi Umeki is perfect as the timid young Mei Li. It's too bad Pat Suzuki couldn't also recreate her role of nightclub singer Linda Low, but Nancy Kwan is very amusing in the role.
"Flower Drum Song", like a lot of movies coming out of Hollywood, is meant to show the positive light of Chinese Americans in a time when the world was not interconnected as it is today, and in this way is meant to hopefully enlighten non-Chinese the nation over (and beyond).
The characters are stock, borderline stereotypes at times, but otherwise much in the tradition of the film portraying the traditional old guard elders emotionally clashing with their offspring who bring who new ideas and American pop culture to the home.
That, and like nearly all musicals of the time, the thing is shot entirely on stage, which has always been a sore point with me.Otherwise it's a very beautiful film, and you should see it at least once.
This has got to be the worst of the lot when it comes to Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musicals that made it to the screen.First of all, none of the songs have the memorable qualities one would expect from an R&H musical and certainly none compare favorably to the melodies from SOUTH PACIFIC, OKLAHOMA, CAROUSEL or THE KING AND I.Secondly, MIYOSHI YUMEKI, while a living doll, is naive and funny when she's called upon to be the innocent, but mawkish and unbearable whenever she has to draw sentimental tears.
And NANCY KWAN seems phony and totally unreal, even when singing "I Enjoy Being A Girl" which is about the snappiest number in the whole musical.Thirdly, all of the characters are terrible stereotypes exploited for what little humor there is in this story of an immigrant girl looking for a good match as a husband.
Mail-order bride Miyoshi Umeki (as Mei Li) arrives in San Francisco from Hong Kong, to marry nightclub owner Jack Soo (as Sammy Fong).
This long, ludicrous Rodgers and Hammerstein musical could be compared to "Chop Suey" (herein a song by Juanita Hall).
Baseball playing little brother Patrick Adiarte utters the film's best line, "Don't Take Any Wooden Chopsticks." ***** Flower Drum Song (11/9/61) Henry Koster ~ Miyoshi Umeki, Nancy Kwan, James Shigeta, Jack Soo. Another Time Another Place Thankfully Then.
The musical numbers are light and catchy, and the performers are great, especially the handsome Shigeta, the knock-out gorgeous Kwan, and the shyly beautiful Umeki.
The cast is headed by talented Jack Soo, portraying what someone has called a "Nathan Detroit" like figure; his brilliant characterization is matched by James Shigeta's as a nice but callow young student 'prince' of San Francisco's Chinatown and Miyoshi Umecki's as elfin Mei Li, the brave 'picture bride" who sneaks into the country with her father, Kam Tong, in order not to have to wait five more years to be allowed in on a quota so she can get married.
Others in the very well-trained cast of underemployed Oriental professionals include powerful Benson Fong, playing above his age as Shigeta's very Chinese father, charming Juanita Hall as his wisecracking sister-in-law, dancer Reiko Sato as the tragic Helen, lithe dancer Patrick Adiarte as Fong's Americanized number two son, plus Victor Sen- Yung, Madame Soo Yong, James Hong and many others.
Memorable songs include, "Sunday,", "Don't Marry Me", "Chop Suey", "The Other Generation", "A Hundred Million Miracles" , "You Are Beautiful, ""Fan Tan Fanny", I Enjoy Being a Girl", "Hliding Through My Memory" and "I Am Going to Like It Here".
Even when the music is passable, it seems to be imitating "Oklahoma" and "South Pacific." (Unlike in the filmed version of the latter, Juanita Hall is allowed to sing her role here.
Nearly all the Asian actors in this film playing Chinese-Americans are in fact Japanese.
The story could be fun, and there are actually songs that work - I ENJOY BEING A GIRL and Sunday are the best, you get the CHOP SUEY very sticky too - but the movie goes long, and we get bored.
A hit Broadway musical for Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, this Ross Hunter-produced movie version (although set in the modern age) looks like a relic from the 1930s.
The cast is variable: Miyoshi Umeki is indeed very sweet in the central role; Nancy Kwan is hot stuff as a cabaret entertainer; James Shigeta is fine as the young man everyone is playing matchmaker for; but Jack Soo's wild-eyed performance as hip restaurateur Sammy Fong is indicative of the director's vision (exaggerated, comic-book cuteness).
In Flower Drum Song, they attempt this using San Francisco's Chinatown.Young Mi Lei arrives from China with her father to finalize an arranged marriage to nightclub owner Sammy Fong (played by show-stealer, Jack Soo).
If they have an eye on Nancy Kwan, they should also know that there are thousands of Chinese oriented young talented actresses, who can play that role of Mei Li. Obviously the producer and the director have known nothing about Chinese culture.
Can these Rodgers & Hammerstein first spend some time to study or reaserach a bit to make some real Chinese flower drum song music instead of writing that horrible song in this musical film?
If you have once heard real flower drum song music, you will surely agree with me, really!The story itself in the movie is terrible too.
Based on the Broadawy musical, this film stars what was then a cavalcade of great Asian American actors: The beautiful and talented Nancy Kwan (also star of "The World Of Susie Wong"), James Shigeta, the sweet and so pretty Miyoshi Umeki (she just left us.
Anyway, like I said, I enjoyed this much better the second time around especially with the great look presented on the DVD.
Loved the cast of Nancy Kwan, James Shigeta, Miyoshi Umeki, Reiko Sato, Benson Fong, Juanita Hall, Victor Sen Yung, Patrick Adiarte (like me and Mom, a Filipino), and especially, Jack Soo!
Oh, and what a great way in presenting multiple Nancy Kwans in the "I Like Being a Girl" number.
But with a song like "Love Look Away", you have one of the most heart-wrenching ballads in a Broadway show, sung tenderly by a rather minor character you truly feel empathy for.
The difference between shyness and sassiness makes their acquaintance really sweet as well as those of the men they love.Then, there's the older generation, lead by Benson Fong and Juanita Hall, repeating her Broadway role, and unlike the movie version of "South Pacific", getting to sing as she had on stage. |
tt0112760 | Cutthroat Island | In 1668 Jamaica, Morgan Adams (Geena Davis) a born and raised pirate lady is found by her father's henchmen and called back to her father's ship in emergency. Her uncle and fellow pirate Dawg Brown (Frank Langella), has captured her father, Black Harry (Harris Yulin). Black Harry has one of three pieces of a map to a huge stash of gold on the remote Cutthroat Island. Dawg has another piece, having stolen it from the corpse of a third brother, Richard, while a fourth brother, Mordechai (George Murcell), has the last piece. Harry refuses to give Dawg his piece and attempts a daring escape that fails when he's mortally wounded. A dying Harry reveals to his daughter the location of his piece of map; he had it tattooed on his scalp. He also gives his daughter ownership and captaincy of his ship, the Morning Star.After scalping her dead father for the piece, Morgan rejoins the ship as captain and sets out for the treasure. Some of the ship's crew are reluctant to follow but are convinced when she reveals the map. Unfortunately, the instructions on the map appear to be in Latin, which no one on board reads. So, they go to nearby Port Royal to find a translator.Meanwhile, in Port Royal, William Shaw (Matthew Modine), a doctor turned thief, is working a fancy dancing ball, stealing from its numerous lady guests. Unfortunately, things turn sour when Captain Trotter (Angus Wright) catches him red handed and makes him prisoner. His boss, Governor Ainslee (Patrick Malahide), orders Shaw to be sold as a slave.Morgan and her crew learn that one of the slaves up for auction, a doctor, is fluent in Latin. After threatening a man determined to outbid her, Morgan wins the auction. Unfortunately, she is recognized from her wanted poster and is chased out of town, along with her crew and Shaw. Humiliated, Governor Ainslee vows to find her, either to arrest her or form a partnership for half her profits. He enlists the help of John Reed (Maury Chaykin), a chronicler who often follows pirates to write his books. Meanwhile, Morgan, while looking at the map with Shaw, realizes that the instructions were not Latin, they were simply written backwards. She also figures that the Bible verses written on the map are actually longitude coordinates of the island.The crew finds Mordechai in Spittlefield Harbor. Morgan makes a deal with Mordechai to join their ships and crews together against Dawg. Before she can learn where the second piece of map is, Dawg appears. A fight ensues, during which Mordechai is killed and Morgan is shot, while Shaw secretly finds the piece of map engraved on a piece of wood and keeps it to himself. After they escape on the Morning Star, Morgan collapses from her wound but is saved by Shaw who is, after all, a doctor. The two kisses for the first time. Shaw pretends he doesn't have the second piece of map.Dawg's ship, the Reaper, bears down on them. Morgan directs hers toward a coral reef... and a gale. While she is distracted by a storm, Shaw sneaks into her cabin with the second piece of the map. Realizing that the upper case letters on the map are actually roman numbers, therefore the missing coordinates, he pieces together the longitude and latitude to find the location of Cutthroat Island which, turns out, was uncharted so far. Morgan catches him and forces him to reveal his true identity. It turns out, Shaw is just a poor common thief and con man who was never a doctor. He ends up thrown in the brig for his lies.During the storm, Reed sends a carrier pigeon revealing their location to Ainslee. Meanwhile, the majority of the crew led by the treacherous Scully (Jimmie F. Skaggs) mutinies against Morgan and maroon her and those loyal to her in a boat. Shaw escapes and jump off the ship but is unseen and unheard by Morgan and her remaining crew. He is unable to reach their boat. The boat is wrecked in the storm but luckily, the tide takes them straight to Cutthroat Island.As Morgan goes after the treasure with the parts she already know, she sees Dawg and his ship arriving on the island. She plans to steal Dawg's piece of map at night but Shaw, who survived the storm, is quicker. Unfortunately for him, Shaw falls into quicksand and has to surrender the map to Morgan to be saved. Together, they find the gold, but are ambushed by Dawg, forcing them to jump off a cliff into the tide. Dawg and his crew claims the gold and load it on their ship.After regaining consciousness, Shaw finds Reed, who leads him into a trap set by Dawg, Ainslee, and the mutineers, who have all joined forces and intend to split the gold between them. As Shaw is captured and they make their way out to sea with the gold, Morgan sneaks aboard the Morning Star and retakes it from Scully and the mutineers.The crew then tries to sneak attack the Reaper, but Dawg counterattacks. A sea fight ensues, during which Shaw escapes and Ainslee, his men and Reed are killed by cannon fire. Morgan boards the Reaper and blows out the ship's bottom to get to the gold. She then duels Dawg while Shaw gets trapped below in rapidly rising water with the treasure. Morgan finally kills Dawg with a cannon and saves Shaw, forced to abandon the treasure to escape the sinking ship. Luckily, Morgan attached a marker barrel to the treasure beforehand, allowing them to retrieve it and the newly rich crew sets sail for their next adventure in Madagascar. | violence, action, humor | train | imdb | null |
tt0903624 | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | Prologue: During the preparations for the birthday party at the beginning of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the elderly Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) is writing a memoir. He describes the fabulously wealthy dwarven kingdom of Erebor and its relations with the human kingdom of Dale and the wood elves ruled by Thranduil (Lee Pace). The dwarves are ruled by Thror (Jeffrey Thomas), the King under the Mountain, and the neighboring leaders pay homage to Thror.Dwarves, elves, and men prosper. The caves under Erebor (a.k.a. the Lonely Mountain), rich in gold and jewels, are mined for an uncountable horde of wealth. The dwarves find the Arkenstone, their most valued jewel, which Thror displays above his throne. One day Thror's kingdom is attacked by a dragon, Smaug. Smaug destroys much of Dale and makes short work of Erebor's defenses, despite the brave and canny leadership of Thror's grandson Thorin (Richard Armitage). The surviving dwarves flee and Thorin is embittered when their erstwhile ally, the elven king Thranduil, declines to help them. (Previously Thror and his kin had refused to share diamonds mined from the mountain with the elves, which strained the alliance.)The dwarves attempt to reconquer Moria, a dwarven kingdom in the Misty Mountains that's been overrun by evil creatures called orcs. Led by a huge, pale orc called Azog (Manu Bennett), the orc armies repel the dwarves; in the battle, Azog beheads Thror. An enraged Thorin attacks Azog. Losing his shield early in the duel, Thorin uses an oak log to defend himself, earning the nickname "Oakenshield." He disables Azog by severing his arm, leaving him to be pulled away kicking and screaming by some retreating orc soldiers. Thorin's father Thrain is grief-stricken by the loss of his own father, Thror, and goes missing, never to be seen again. (Eventually, off screen, he's taken prisoner by the Necromancer.) Spurred on by the defeat of Azog, the dwarves manage to reclaim their land, albeit at the cost of the majority of their numbers. Thorin is left in charge of what remains of his grandfather's empire, but his people are too few to defend Moria or retake Erebor. With nowhere to go, the dwarves scatter to make their way in the world as miners, smiths, and toymakers.At this point Bilbo, having filled in the history leading up to his own appearance in the narrative, decides to tell his nephew Frodo (Elijah Wood) the whole story of his adventure 60 years earlier.One morning in the Shire, a much younger Bilbo (Martin Freeman) sits smoking outside his front door when along comes a tallish fellow -- not a hobbit -- in a pointed hat and grey cloak. He's the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), and he's looking to enlist the last member of an expedition that's ready to head off on a quest. Bilbo wants no part of any adventure, but Gandalf has other ideas. As Bilbo sits down to eat the next evening, he's interrupted by a visitor, an imposing dwarf called Dwalin (Graham McTavish) who acts as though he's expected. He wolfs down Bilbo's supper before more dwarves arrive -- Balin (Ken Stott), Bifur (William Kircher), Bofur (James Nesbitt), Bombur (Stephen Hunter), Fili (Dean O'Gorman), Kili (Aidan Turner), Oin (John Callen), Gloin (Peter Hambleton), Nori (Jed Brophy), Dori (Mark Hadlow), and Ori (Adam Brown) -- as well as Gandalf and eventually Thorin Oakenshield. Bilbo's finicky neatness is disrupted as they carry all the food out of the pantry, rearrange the furniture, and sing a silly song to tease the poor hobbit ("Chip the glasses and crack the plates! That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!") before settling down to the business they came to discuss: their quest.The dwarves plan to return to Erebor and reclaim their kingdom and their treasure from the dragon. A 13-member expedition invites bad luck, so they wish to hire a fourteenth member, a burglar -- and Gandalf assures them that Bilbo is a first-rate burglar, or will be when the time comes. Gandalf also says that Bilbo will present a slight advantage to the company when infiltrating Smaug's lair; Smaug is not familiar with the scent of a hobbit and Bilbo will be less detectable to the dragon. Their contract offers Bilbo a 1/14th share of any profits. When Bilbo wakes up in the morning the dwarves have all gone, and deep down he's disappointed he's lost the opportunity of finding an adventure, but he discovers that Thorin has signed the contract. All of a sudden, Bilbo decides to join the group; he catches up with them on the road and is given a pony to ride. His adventure has begun, although he's still set in his comfortable ways, and complains about the pony rub causing him a skin sore, and even tries to return to his hobbit-hole.Thorin and company travel east for some days until one evening, while puzzling over the disappearance of some of their ponies, Bilbo, Fili, and Kili (the two youngest dwarves) see firelight in the distance. They creep closer and discover three large trolls. Bilbo, as the "burglar," is pushed forward to rescue four ponies being kept in a corral. He sneaks in but is captured. The dwarves attack the trolls but are forced to surrender when the trolls threaten to rip Bilbo apart. Half the company are tied to a large rotating spit over the troll's fire, the other half are trapped in large sacks. Bilbo stalls for time by telling the trolls the dwarves are infected. Suddenly Gandalf appears, splits a boulder with his staff, and sunlight pours through the crack, turning the trolls to stone.Realizing that the trolls would have a cave to retreat to in the daytime, they search around and find the hidden lair. Gandalf and the dwarves find some good -- indeed, magical -- elven swords along with a small treasure trove. Gandalf gives the smallest of the swords (later called Sting) to Bilbo, saying it will glow blue when there are orcs and goblins around. The other swords are the famed Glamdring, which Gandalf takes for himself, and its mate, Orcrist, which Gandalf suggests Thorin keep. Thorin is reluctant to use an elven sword but Gandalf persuades him, saying such a fine weapon is a rare find.Later, one of the dwarves reports the ponies have all run off. Radagast the Brown (Sylvester McCoy), the wizard who watches over the region, arrives in his rabbit-drawn sleigh. He tells Gandalf there is evil in the forest and in the old abandoned fortress of Dol Guldur. He recounts a fight with a spirit, the Witch King of Angmar, and gives Gandalf an object wrapped in cloth.The orcs arrive and Radagast, saying he will lead them away, takes off with his rabbit sleigh. The travelling party makes its way across a hilly open area while the orcs chase the brown wizard. However, one orc tracks them down and the fight draws the others. Gandalf leads them into a deep crevice in the rocks before the orcs are driven off by elvish horsemen.Travelling through the cave, the party comes out near Rivendell, home of Elrond (Hugo Weaving). Thorin, who still wants nothing to do with elves, angrily declares this was Gandalf's plan all along. Elrond appears with his riders and greets Gandalf and the dwarves warmly. Gandalf convinces Thorin to show Elrond the map. Elrond notices secret writing on the map that has to be read on the same calendar day during the same phase of the moon as when it was written, which luckily is that night. Blue letters glow on the map under the moonlight. Elrond translates the instructions on how to find the entrance to the Lonely Mountain. The dwarves must be in a certain spot on the mountainside on a certain day in late summer and the setting sun will show the door.Later, Gandalf meets with Saruman (Christopher Lee), Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), and Elrond. They discuss the mysterious Necromancer and some looming portents of evil. Saruman seems indifferent, saying that the evil spirit was vanquished centuries before and couldn't possibly gain enough power to return, much less materialize again. Gandalf produces the object wrapped in cloth that he received from Radagast: an evil sword, a Morgul blade, that was supposed to have been buried deep in a mountain. Galadriel silently promises aid to Gandalf when needed. Meanwhile, the dwarves and Bilbo continue their journey.Climbing a mountain, the party is caught in the midst of a battle as three stone giants come alive and start fighting each other. Bilbo and the dwarves take refuge in a cave. Thorin berates Bilbo again for having to save his life. That night, discouraged, Bilbo prepares to sneak away. Bofur tries to convince him to stay, but Bilbo still feels he isn't prepared for the life of adventure the dwarves are accustomed to. Suddenly, Bilbo's sword glows blue, the floor opens up and the party falls into a crevice and onto a wooden platform, where they are surrounded and taken prisoner by goblins.Bilbo slips away in the confusion but has to fight a lone goblin; the two fall further into the abyss. While the goblins take the dwarves to their king, the Great Goblin (Barry Humphries), Bilbo awakens to see Gollum (Andy Serkis) attacking and killing his unconscious goblin. Gollum drops a gold ring and Bilbo puts it in his pocket. A short time later, Gollum discovers the hobbit and alternately threatens and wheedles as Bilbo points his sword at him. They agree on a contest of riddles: if Bilbo wins, Gollum will show him the way out; if Bilbo loses, Gollum will eat him.Elsewhere in the goblin caves, the king notices the dwarves' swords and recoils from the sight of Orcrist, known to his people as "Goblin Cleaver." He orders the dwarves killed and sends a message to Azog, giving the location of the dwarves. As the goblins move in, there is a sudden white burst and everyone is stunned. Gandalf appears and urges the dwarves to run. They gather their swords and rush down the rickety wooden walkways that traverse the goblins' cavern in an exciting and physics-defying chase.Bilbo and Gollum trade wits and Bilbo has the final riddle; he asks Gollum what he has in his pocket. (It's Gollum's ring). Gollum is enraged (this isn't a standard riddle) and refuses to uphold the deal. Bilbo slips the ring on his finger and is surprised that he has become invisible to Gollum. Gandalf and the dwarves reach the bottom and run past Bilbo and Gollum to escape from the goblin caves. Bilbo has a chance to kill Gollum but relents and just jumps over him. Gollum is further enraged. Bilbo also escapes into the daylight, where the goblins can't immediately follow.The dwarves make it out to a wooded area and try to rest. Gandalf counts heads and notices Bilbo is missing. No one knows where he is and Thorin suspects he ran off -- he has long believed that Bilbo is not up to the task of the adventure and only longs to return to his home. Close by, and still invisible, Bilbo overhears Thorin. He suddenly appears and tells Thorin and his company that he does indeed wish to return home, but he will stay with the dwarves because they have no home of their own. Thorin still seems unimpressed, but the rest of the dwarves are relieved that Bilbo has rejoined them.Without warning, Azog and his warg-riders appear and chase the group to the edge of a cliff, where they all climb trees. But the snarling beasts cut the branches and topple the trees. Gandalf catches a moth, whispers to it, and releases it. When Azog appears on his white warg, Thorin is stunned to see him still alive. Gandalf hurls pine-cone fireballs at the enemy below, and soon the area is in flames and the animals retreat. Cornered, Thorin decides to attack and rushes toward Azog, but is knocked down and seemingly a meal for Azog's mount. Bilbo joins in the counterattack, saving Thorin from death. The other dwarves follow. The orcs are gaining the upper hand when a flock of huge eagles arrives and starts tossing the orcs off the cliff and carrying the dwarves away. (Gandalf sent the moth to get help.) Finally the last tree topples but Gandalf is saved by an eagle. The eagles carry the group to the Carrock, a smaller mountain in the middle of a river that offers them some safety. Thorin revives and is grateful to Bilbo. He apologizes for doubting him, saying he couldn't have been more wrong about Bilbo's bravery in battle. In the distance, Bilbo spots the Lonely Mountain and they all stare in awe, realizing they're that much closer to their home.A thrush flies toward the gates of the old dwarf redoubt and bangs on a nut. Inside, Smaug arouses from a pile of gold coins, opening one eye. | fantasy, boring, flashback, good versus evil, humor, storytelling | train | imdb | When I heard that there was to be a film version of The Hobbit, I was quite looking forward to it as the big finish of Lord of the Rings was still in my mind and, unlike LotR, I had actually read The Hobbit several times many years ago.
Whilst the LOTR trilogy had it's lighter moments, The Hobbit revels in the lighter side of life, with lots of genuinely hilarious moments interspersing themselves with scenes of real peril.The visually stunning moments are still there, and whilst I saw this movie in 2D, some moments would have been absolutely perfect in 3D.
At one point it felt like I was watching Labyrinth (1986) again, not like that's a bad thing but I didn't expect it here.It looks great, its scored near perfectly and as mentioned the cast do a great performance and it was nice to see the likes of James Nesbitt and Sylvester McCoy up on the big screen.Inevitably there was going to be comparison with LOTR, that was inescapable and the comparison just doesn't help it at all.
It pales in comparison and with all the silliness I found myself underwhelmed.The Hobbit is a passable effort but is more like the Mythica series than Lord Of The Rings.The Good: Beautiful Excellent score Brilliant cast The Bad: Some parts go beyond comedic into the realms of silly Martin Freeman just isn't leading man material Goblin town song, really?
While at first glance it may seem that he is travelling over familiar ground, again tackling the fantastical world of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth after his vast and Academy Award wining "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy (2001 – 2003), he is actually experimenting with cinema itself.Of all the art forms of the world, film is the one most invested in technology; created by scientists, not artists at the end of the nineteenth century.
This is primarily a visual motion picture, but the characters are not ignored and the extensive opening sequence set in Bilbo's house serves as an introduction of sorts to not just the people but the themes as well.Jackson directs with huge scope and a true feeling for the vast land he is creating, shot on location in New Zealand.
The surround sound was rich and evocative of the caves and the music is lush and emotional.As for the main story, well, apart from doing a prelude that reprises the role of Frodo and older Bilbo Baggins, it pretty much stays true to the text - with some audience members anticipating what the characters were going to say next.A word of warning - some of the battle scenes are very intense, made more so by the 3D and high definition used along with the sound effects.
Much like he did with the previous trilogy, bringing us into a world full of heroes and villains, orcs and wizards this film literally (thanks to the 3D and FPS rate) literally transports you into Middle Earth.I am already excited to see the next instalment but to keep me satisfied until then..i may go and watch my LOTR boxset again .
I couldn't see any flaw in this movie at all, they do change the way some events happened, but they're details and don't really change the story, actually you can tell they were needed.Jackson also adds some information, but he did say beforehand that he would, and is taken from other Tolkien stories, and as I haven't read them, I was very happy with the change because they were things I didn't know.
So, while fans clamored for the Extended Cuts of Jackson's original trilogy a decade ago, eating up the scenes that couldn't make it into the three-hour theatrical cuts, there's not much excuse to turn "The Hobbit" into a trilogy of its own.The movie starts by bridging the gap between "The Hobbit" and LOTR by reintroducing Ian Holm as Bilbo Baggins.
Bilbo says he will now tell the story of his greatest adventure, and then spends several minutes relating the entire history of the dwarfs to the audience before finally picking up where Tolkien chose to start, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." (Since the book was in third-person, and the movie adds a first-person narrator, the line now seems a little pretentious.) And then, instead of diving into the story, Elijah Wood wastes a few minutes of screen time with a completely unnecessary cameo as Frodo.
Instead of showing the same reverence to the source material that made Jackson's earlier trilogy so successful, here he ignores Tolkien's main plot and instead pads the movie with a subplot involving Radagast the Brown, a character taken from elsewhere in Tolkien's writings who has no place in "The Hobbit", and a Necromancer, and another one involving an albino orc pursuing the dwarf leader, in order to give the new trilogy a central antagonist.
There are some weak attempts at humor, but rather than Tolkien's wit, the biggest laughs come from unintentional comedy from the terrible acting and writing (disappointing, since one of the co-writers this time is Guillermo del Toro, who's better than this) behind lines like "After sickness, bad things happen" or "If there's a key, there's a door."Like the previous trilogy, most of the visuals are a cross between New Zealand landscapes and CGI special effects.
Considering they decided to tell the story through Bilbo's perspective, it's surprising that this is the one scene that really gives the title character a central role.At the risk of sounding like one of those snobs who always complains that the book is better, in the time it will take to watch what is sure to be a 9-hour trilogy, you could probably read Tolkien's entire book, and be much more entertained doing so..
Sorrow, because I am sorry that I wasted 3 hours of my life; anger, as I feel one of my favourite books has been desecrated; and disappointment, that now this film exists no- one will be given the further opportunity to actually do this book justice.It might be expected that this review would harp on that there is an unnecessary amount of padding, which is true, but not what I particularly want to comment on; in other reviews it has seemed to overshadow, what I believe, are other major issues this film has.Martin Freeman's portrayal of Bilbo Baggins left me feeling very bitter.
Every climax in those scenes ends with a deus ex machina subterfuge allowing our heroes to get away unharmed, no matter how ridiculous or insulting to the genre formerly known as Fantasy.The film is simply a vehicle showcasing the technical improvements in CGI, 3D and recording techniques (the doubled frame rate) which oddly enough makes the actual picture seem completely unconvincing.
The Hobbit Trilogy comes in at a massive 462 minutes for the theatrical cut and an even more bloated 532 minutes for the extended version.That's 9 hours of film for a book that barely hits 300 pages in length!All three movies suffer from the same problems - superfluous subplots, lack of ruthlessness in the editing room, cartoon battle scenes and chases with no real sense of any threat and sidelining Bilbo as the main protagonist.
The Hobbit is a relatively short book compared to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so there was no reason to split it into three movies.Jackson left out the heart of the book, and instead got lost in the scenery and action scenes.
In a desperate attempt to make 3 movies out of a 200 pages booklet, Peter Jackson and his disturbing writers, after adding all the things to be inserted to lengthen the stock, have come to use eternal shots and endless pursuits in a land barren and sterile to fill this movie.Seriously, despite all the additions, there is so little to say that we have to spend 40 minutes watching movies about dwarfs who run, dwarfs that are hidden, dwarfs who eat: it seemed the Great Brother: Lord of the Rings edition.The proof of the actors is fair/low, costumes and special effects are decent, but not superb, while the dwarfs are dwarfs highest and most beautiful in the history of fantasy ...
Over this, the plot is so weak that it's a real trial to face the movie without failing to sleep.If you add that this ordeal lasts 3 hours (when many of the excellent fantasy of the 80s in 120 minutes told us all and more), you can well understand how anyone could give a resounding 4!I do not recommend seeing it, but if you want to embark, find something else to do during the movie (I know, ironing, a game on I-Pad, working on PC ...), otherwise you will feel like a thief took away 3 hours of your life.P.S. as always good Peter has not taken off some "enemy that crack like an idiot," to annihilate the little amount of credibility that the film could have maintained..
Rather, we're just spoon-fed it by the dialogue, and that just makes the tension, the conflict that follows, and the resolution to said conflict feel fake or artificial.Either way you look at it (on its own or in the shadow of the book), the movie just doesn't let you emotionally invest in it's lead character.
If there's one good thing that could come out of Jackson's film, it would be bringing this other version out of (very undeserved) obscurity.I don't know if the next movie will be better, but I do know that I probably won't bother seeing it..
A basically faithful-to-the-book rendition for old-fashioned types - like yours truly - who really only want its look and feel translated into visual format?A lavish family-friendly epic for casual admirers of the Tolkien 'franchise', with enough easy reference points to this 'back material' for the new 'product entry' to fit seamlessly into the whole?A 3-D Wide-Screen Tom-and-Jerry-cartoon-writ-large for the Video Game Generation, not overly concerned with plot, character, dialogue, coherence, dramatic tension, authenticity, or any other damn thing save 'awesome' special effects and bespoke cartoon violence?The sad answer: a mishmash of all the above.
Generic quest narrative; check, er, "Lord of the Rings".Examples of manipulation, all periodically evident throughout the film's entire run time, include: crude signposting of every plot twist; every being's inner feelings and motivations exaggerated and rammed home; every dangerous situation amplified beyond rhyme or reason into the completely absurd, thereby destroying rather than enhancing dramatic tension; totally generic 'stirring' fantasy soundtrack music unsubtly underpinning the action to further stupefy the senses.Allotting specific blame on the director, or script writers, or producers, or backers of this pumped-up product for its artistic failure is futile.
So many examples of this convenient departure from logic appear throughout the movie that even my ten year old would say: "Oh Come On!!!"There are so many unnecessary battle scenes that did nothing to aid the story and were just there to pad the film out.
But instead they've brushed over the entire meat of the story and twisted it until it resembles only in bones the original, and I think that's a shame, because the opportunity was there to bring the beauty of the book to life.Let us take, for example, the beginning, when the dwarfs arrive at Bag End believing that Bilbo is a burglar.
I am a big fan of LOTR and yet I did not like in fact I loved Fellowship of the ring so much more coz that gave me a reasoning and understanding of characters and a back story Here, we had a back story which I thought would be equally interesting as it is Peter Jackson at the helm, but it is rather tiring and however hard I tried, I just missed most of it.
Watched it last night again, for the first time since it came out and came to the same conclusions: way way way too long and there is way too much CGI, to the extent it distracts from the story.And as much as I adore the (extended versions of) LOTR movies and what was built from the books, I have to say with great regret that Peter Jackson completely missed the point here: It's a children's story about how a small Hobbit survives all kinds of adventures through his wit and cunning.
I know that if Jackson had followed the book (with some adaptation changes to keep the continuity with LOTR in check, like the Rivendell sequence) and made a two hour movie adaptation I would be very happy.
Or perhaps such an embellishment was necessary since the filmmakers were aware of the weakness of the character's relationships and dialogue.Its comparable to listening to AC/DC while watching a motionless gold fish in a bowl, the two just don't go together, but the rock n roll is trying to absorb you into the anti-climatic fish experience.That is kind of an exaggerated example, but you get my point.Also, some scenes and bits are taken straight from LOTR, which, while attempting to create a oneness of feel with the other films, instead comes off as almost forcing about recall and evinces a lack of originality and creativity.That is the general feel of the film, they are trying to cast it as being a story that is as epic as the LOTR, as high stakes as the LOTR, while it is obvious that the story just lacks that punch.
The first of three film adaptations of the classic children's book, it's grandiloquence will please the fanatics, but leave those on the fence feeling disappointed and potentially nauseous.After a boisterous battle prologue, An Unexpected Journey starts similarly to The Fellowship of the Ring: in the comfort of the Hobbit Shire with Frodo's uncle, Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm), sitting in his subterranean bachelor pad and eulogising his past.
Along the way, they get into scrapes with man-eating trolls, conniving goblins, maniacal orcs and intellectual elves (headed once again by Cate Blanchett's Galadriel).Early on in the film's hefty 169 minute running time, Gandalf turns to young Bilbo and suggests, 'every good story needs embellishment'.
Sir Ian McKellen is on fantastic form as the altruistic Gandalf, and Andy Serkis steals the show once again as the schizophrenic Gollum, who loses his 'precious' ring for the first time in a memorable cryptic showdown with Bilbo.In an attempt to make the special effects and props look as realistic as possible, the film is expensively shot at 48 frames per second, rather than the standard 24.
They shrank even more when I heard that instead of two films, there was going to be three.The original trilogy had a decent start with FotR, but TTT and RotK got lost in unnecessary plot changes, bad pacing, excessive CGI and the worst of Hollywood clichés.And to no surprise, Jackson picks up exactly where he stopped, making "The Hobbit" an excruciating feat that lacks any kind of depth and character development, and instead focuses on blatantly obvious CGI orcs, unnecessary and unrealistic (even for a fantasy universe) battle scenes and all the gimmicks modern cinema has to offer, to extract even more money from movie goers.Also, this film should not be called The Hobbit, because poor Bilbo gets lost in all the other stuff that Jackson put into the film.
However, watching the movie, you can't shake off the feeling that you're watching the Fellowship again, except with dwarfs.Adding insult to injury, Jackson not only neglects Bilbo, he also depicts his character in the wrong way and rushes its development, with quite alienating effects.The magic of the book is certainly lost then, and all we got is a worse copy of the FotR, with less interesting characters and more fighting, which had me ultimately bored and looking frequently at my watch for the second part of the movie, relieved when it was finally over..
If anything could displace the Lord of the Rings as my favorite film trilogy, I was certain that it would be The Hobbit; if for no other reason than I found Tolkien's The Hobbit is a far easier and funner read than LOTR, and I always knew that there would be moments that would make for excellent cinema.Despite the underwhelming reviews and reception, I found The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey satisfying; it met my expectations perfectly.
And I thought I'd thankfully seen the last of Elijah Wood as Frodo, whose performance for some reason makes me cringe; but here he is, shoehorned into this movie like so many other supernumerary characters.Maybe someday the BBC, or HBO, or Netflix, or some other creative organization will produce, say, a ten-part miniseries of The Hobbit and LOTR that will be true, or at least truer, to the plot, characterizations and dialogue than Peter Jackson.
While I loved Jackson's LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, I'm sorry to say that he's fumbled - nay, dropped - the ball with this prequel, the first of a three-film adaptation of Tolkien's earlier children's book, THE HOBBIT.
All in all, I consider 48 fps to be an improvement over 24 fps (without diminishing the "cinematic" look of a film), but I didn't have the feeling I had witnessed a "revolutionary new cinema experience".***** CONCLUSION *****I didn't expect (or want) a replica of LOTR, but while "The Hobbit" isn't a bad movie, it isn't good either.
Juggling such a massive primary cast is obviously a challenge, and as such the film's best moments involve only one or two characters, with Bilbo's (Martin Freeman) meeting of Gollum (Andy Serkis) and the finding of the ring being a particular stand-out sequence, the only one that seemed like it could have used more time.However, all of the good work that Jackson & Co do with the direct source material is swamped by the content they felt they had to develop themselves.
At least half the dwarfs aren't' given enough actual acting time to create characters, which just makes the film even more cartoon-like.Overall, watching The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was about as much fun as watching someone play World of Warcraft. |
tt2582846 | The Fault in Our Stars | A teenage girl named Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) is lying in the grass staring up at the stars. She states that she believes we're allowed to choose how to tell sad stories, and that although one can sugarcoat it and say there's nothing that can't be fixed with a Peter Gabriel song, it's not the truth.Hazel suffers from stage 4 thyroid cancer and is always seen carrying an oxygen tank with a cannula in her nose for her to breathe. At the behest of her mother Frannie (Laura Dern), father Michael (Sam Trammell), and her doctor Maria (Ana Dela Cruz), she attends a cancer support group at a church called the Literal Heart of Jesus. The person running it is a man named Patrick (Mike Birbiglia), who had testicular cancer and is now divorced and lives with his parents, but is positive because he is alive. Frannie wants Hazel to make friends, but as Hazel says, the only thing worse than biting it from cancer is having a kid that bites it from cancer.One day during her trip to the group, Hazel bumps into Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort). During the meeting, Gus stares at Hazel. Patrick first calls on Gus's friend Isaac (Nat Wolff), who had a tumor in his eye and now wears a glass eye, though he is thankful because of his "smoking hot" girlfriend Monica. When Gus is called on, he says that he has been in remission from osteosarcoma after having his right leg amputated (he wears a prosthetic). Patrick asks him if he has any fears, and Gus states that he fears oblivion. Hazel shoots this down by saying that eventually, everything and everyone will be gone and forgotten, and if that scares him, he should ignore it. After the meeting, Hazel waits for her mom, and Gus comes out to chat with her. They see Isaac and Monica making out and groping each other, then repeating "Always" to one another. Gus explains to Hazel that this is their way of saying they'll always love each other. He asks Hazel her name and tells her she's beautiful. He then puts a cigarette in his mouth, which upsets Hazel because it has ruined her impression of him. Gus explains that he never smokes the cigarettes he puts between his teeth so as to not give the killing item any power. He invites Hazel to come over and watch a movie.While Gus recklessly drives to his house, he asks Hazel about her cancer story. She tells him (through flashbacks) that she was diagnosed when she was 13 and went through all the required treatment, but it wasn't working. Her lungs began to fill with water and she was treated in the ICU. Then one day, the medication she was given began to work well, which was considered to be miraculous. Hazel and Gus arrive at his home and meet his parents. He brings Hazel to the basement and asks her to tell him her real story, not her cancer story. She claims to be unremarkable, but he rejects that. He gives her a copy of his favorite book based off his favorite video game, "Counterinsurgence". Hazel, in return, recommends her favorite book, "An Imperial Affliction", which is about a girl that has leukemia, but she tells Gus that it is not necessarily a cancer story.Hazel waits for Gus to call her back, and after a few days, he texts her after finishing "An Imperial Affliction". He expresses surprise that the book ends mid-sentence (the protagonist Anna apparently dies during her narration). Hazel excuses herself from dinner to speak to Gus on the phone, but they are interrupted by Isaac wailing a song lyric in the background. Gus invites Hazel over, where she finds out that Monica broke up with Isaac, and he is having a psychotic episode. Gus allows Isaac to take out his anger on his basketball trophies. While Isaac smashes them, Gus talks to Hazel about the ending of the book, and she tells him that she has written hundreds of letters to ask the book's author, Peter Van Houten, questions about what happened after the story, such as the fate of Anna's mother and her relationship with the "Dutch Tulip Man", and Anna's pet hamster Sisyphus.One evening during a phone conversation, Gus tells Hazel that he tracked down Van Houten's assistant and got a response from a message he wrote to him. Van Houten thanked Gus for his and Hazel's interest in the novel, and that he has no current plans to write any follow-ups to "An Imperial Affliction". Hazel is surprised that it took that one e-mail to get a response. She decides to write her own e-mail back to Van Houten to ask the questions. A few days later, Hazel gets her own response from Van Houten, who also thanks her for her interest in the story, and even invites her to visit him in Amsterdam. Overjoyed, Hazel tells her mother, and while she wants to make her daughter happy, she knows she wouldn't be able to afford it. Hazel later reads the e-mail to Gus, and they stay talking until 1:00 AM. Hazel decides it's time to hang up. "Okay," Gus responds. "Okay," Hazel says back. Gus decides that "Okay" can be their "Always".Hazel tells Gus about the invitation, and Gus suggests asking the Genies (a Make-A-Wish sort of organization) to grant her this wish. Hazel states that she already used her wish to go to Disney World. Gus is disappointed that she used her wish on a cliche. A while later, Gus shows up at Hazel's home with flowers, and then invites her on a picnic to a park featuring a giant skeleton playground called Funky Bones. Gus jokes that he has brought all his romantic conquests here and that is why he is a virgin. He even illustrates this by drawing a circle in the dirt of virgins and a small circle within of 18-year-old boys with one leg. As they have their picnic, Gus tells her that he spoke to the Genies and convinced them to grant him the wish of taking Hazel to Amsterdam. She is ecstatic.Hazel wakes up in the middle of the night having trouble breathing as fluids fill her lungs. Her parents rush her to the hospital, with Gus waiting outside since he is not allowed in (family only). Hazel has the fluids drained from her lungs and she recovers. After a meeting with the doctors, they determine that she is physically unfit to travel anywhere in her condition. Hazel then has a flashback to when she was in the ICU as a child with Frannie telling her she can let go, and then sobbing to Michael that she won't be a mom anymore.Feeling dejected, Hazel sits in front of a swingset in the backyard that her father built when she was a child. She calls Gus and expresses her sadness. He comes over and they sit on the swings. He tells her that her keeping her distance from him does not lessen his affection toward her. She compares herself to a grenade and that she will blow up and destroy everything in her wake. Not wanting to hurt Gus, Hazel decides they ought to remain friends.Days later, Van Houten's assistant Lidewij e-mails Hazel to extend the invitation again after learning that they will be traveling to Amsterdam in a week. Hazel calls her mother in, and she admits that she wanted to surprise her, but they are indeed going to Amsterdam. Hazel hugs Frannie and then texts Gus. He replies, "Everything is coming up Waters!" She then looks down at her lungs and tells them to keep their shit together.Gus arrives in a limo to pick up Hazel and Frannie, declaring he wants to travel in style. On the plane, Gus becomes nervous as he's never ridden on a plane before, but he becomes excited once they take off.On their first day in Amsterdam, Hazel and Gus ride through a canal and go to a Dutch restaurant, Oranjee. Hazel wears a cute blue dress given to her by Frannie. Gus is stunned by how beautiful Hazel looks. At the restaurant, they are served Dom Perignon and they enjoy it. They have their dinner, and Gus proudly declares his love to Hazel, which puts a big smile on her face. The waiter comes by with more champagne, and he says the dinner was all paid for by Van Houten.The next day, Hazel and Gus go to meet Van Houten. They are greeted at the door by Litewij (Lotte Verbeek), who welcomes them inside. There is unopened fan mail all over the floor. The couple finds Van Houten (Willem Dafoe) in his pajamas, drinking scotch. They sit down so Van Houten can answer their questions, but he instead plays Swedish rap. Hazel starts to ask questions, such as the fate of Anna's mother and the Dutch Tulip Man, but Van Houten only responds with philosophical nonsense. Gus asks him if he's messing with them, and Van Houten makes a rude comment about Gus's cancer. He only gets worse by refusing to answer Hazel's questions and insulting her and Gus's sicknesses. Hazel and Gus storm out. Van Houten asks her why she dwells on these questions, and Hazel just tells him to go fuck himself.Lidewij, appalled by Van Houten's behavior, escorts Hazel and Gus to the Anne Frank House. Since there are no elevators, Hazel must walk up all the stairs and climb the ladder, which puts a strain on her breathing. They get up to the floor with a vocal recording of Anne Frank's diary. As the voice talks about capturing beauty, Hazel and Gus share their first kiss. The onlookers, including Litewij, applaud them. They go back to Gus's room and make love for the first time. Hazel leaves him with a drawing of the large virgin circle, and the circle of 18-year-old boys with one leg outside that big circle.On their last day, Hazel and Gus have breakfast with Frannie before walking alone together. They sit on a bench and Gus tells her that when she was in the ICU, he felt a pain in his hip and got a PET scan. Hazel already knows what he's going to tell her. Gus says the scan "lit up like a Christmas tree", and the cancer returned and spread through his body. Hazel puts her head on his shoulder and cries. Gus tries to lighten the mood by suggesting they make out.Hazel, Gus, and Frannie return to Indianapolis with Michael picking them up. A few days later, Hazel and Gus hang out with Isaac, who is now completely blind and tells them that Monica hasn't spoken to him since the break-up. To cheer him up, Hazel and Gus buy eggs, and they go to Monica's home and pelt her car with eggs.Gus calls Hazel in the middle of the night to ask her to come to the gas station to help him. She drives over there to find him sitting in his car, covered in his own mucus and vomit, with an infection in his abdomen from the G-tube. Hazel starts to call for an ambulance, despite Gus's pleas. The ambulance arrives and takes Gus away.Gus undergoes more treatment for the cancer until the doctors decide to take him off the chemo. He now requires a wheelchair to get around. Hazel takes him to Funky Bones for a picnic. He expresses his desires to have left an impact on the world before he dies and his need to live an extraordinary life. Hazel takes offense to it and tells him that he doesn't need to do all that because she and his parents love him and that it should be enough. He says he's sorry and they drink champagne.Gus calls Hazel another evening to invite her to the Literal Heart of Jesus for a gathering, and to bring a eulogy that he asked Hazel to write for him. She starts to leave but is stopped by her parents who are setting up dinner. Hazel argues with them that she will be gone and that they will be alone after hearing her mother say she won't be a mom anymore after Hazel dies. Both her parents say they will never stop loving her no matter what happens, and that Frannie is taking classes to become a speaker. Hazel becomes happy that her parents will be fulfilled even after she is gone.Hazel joins Gus and Isaac at the church for what is a "pre-funeral" for Gus, since he wants to attend his own funeral. Isaac starts off a eulogy with a touch of humor, but says that if he ever is given "robot eyes", he would deny them because he doesn't want to see a world without Gus. Hazel goes up and starts to talk about her love story with Gus before saying that there are infinite numbers between 1 and 0, and that there are countless infinities, and that she is thankful for their infinity. They both say "I love you" to each other one last time.Gus dies eight days later. The Lancasters receive a phone call in the middle of the night to hear the news. Hazel's parents walk into her room, and without a word, she knows what it is and she begins to cry. She recalls a time when undergoing treatment and the nurse asked her to rate her pain on a scale from 1 to 10. Hazel said 9, and the nurse said she was a fighter for calling a 10 a 9. She says that she was saving her 10 for this sort of occasion.A funeral is held for Gus. Hazel and her parents go, and as the preacher speaks, Hazel is surprised to see Van Houten there. Hazel is called up to speak and gives a new eulogy. After the funeral, Hazel decides to drive home alone, and Van Houten enters her car. There, she learns that he and Gus kept in touch prior to his death, and Gus told Van Houten that he could redeem himself by visiting Hazel and answering her questions. He reveals that Anna was based off Van Houten's 8-year-old daughter who died of leukemia. Before she sends him out of her car, Van Houten gives Hazel a letter, which she crumples up and throws away. She drives away and sees him drink from his flask.Hazel's dad goes to comfort her following Gus's death. Later, Isaac goes over to visit. He tells Hazel that Gus really loved her and never stopped talking about her to the point where it got annoying. He asks her if she read the letter from Van Houten, which happened to be written by Gus.The letter is a eulogy for Hazel written by Gus. We hear Gus's voice reading it, saying that he saw Hazel in the ICU while she slept, and how he thought about them together. He expresses his admiration for her beauty and personality, and adds that people can choose who hurts them. Gus liked his choice, and he hoped Hazel liked hers. He closes it with "Okay, Hazel Grace?"The film ends with Hazel still looking up at the stars, replying, "Okay." | dramatic, romantic | train | imdb | The pain and emotions felt by the characters felt so real, as if I was feeling the same emotions.Though this was THE SADDEST movie I have ever seen, it was also one of the most beautiful, as it truly showed how exhilarating and comforting and exciting love is.
I am a huge fan of the book and one thing which really makes the movie stand out is an amazing performance by Shailene Woodley.
Even though its a love story of a girl who has terminal cancer I wouldn't say that the film is tragic rather the film is about living your life to the fullest in your 'little infinity' If you have already read the book, the film is true to the book and the great acting, directing and music adds another dimension to the story.
I was touched by the concepts and situations on this film, being myself a survivor of 48 chemotherapy treatments, I can somehow understand the feelings.Is not a pretentious film, however full of little moments that creates a very good and convincing environment.I like both main rolls.
The story is completely credible, it can happen any time to anyone.It is an Ode for Life, it tell us that "We can and should have moments of infinite joy within a limited time" It is our choice!I liked very much this film!.
Seriously it makes the two characters feel real and alive, and at times I forgot this was fiction and not based on a true story.
As the viewer is put on an emotional roller-coaster, alongside the feelings and attitudes towards life and love the two teens share, this movie will be a key to many locked doors in the recepients minds.
And through these doors we are lead by an ensemble of actors who are amazingly sensitive in their portrayal of personalities and emotions.The writing and directing is so brilliantly executed, that you have sympathy with every character this movie so caringly brings to (short) life.
I have never met a more obnoxious and irritating character as Augustus Waters and the whole script was painfully cheesy for about 80% of the film.I strongly recommend you do not see this movie.Ever.Even if you are paid to watch it..
The only people who awed and cried over the film, were a bunch of 13-16 year old teenage "tumblr" girls, who nobody can stand by the way, and they were crying and screaming the entire screening.
In the end, everyone was annoyed, and I will do the best I can to lower the rating of the film so that everyone could see that this is the worst movie ever made.Want quality cinema?
They are portrayed to be protective of their daughter's well-being and safety but this conveniently dissipates when Hazel wanted to fly to Amsterdam with Gus. Sorry, I think this is not for a more realistic/mature audience, don't get me wrong, I love romantic films but this is sadly not my cup of tea..
watch Silver Linings Playbook for real charm, story and proper actingI've never had to skip a movie, right to the end, expecting something good and even then it was terrible.
If you want quality acting, from real actors and real directors, with real sweet charm, heart, good pacing and film editing, watch Silver Linings Playbook starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence.
Unfortunately I couldn't see it that way, which has to do with the fact, that this is so by the numbers that it hardly evoked an emotional reaction (once at the airport scene with the father, but several times it was shuddering, because of the sugar overload this has).I actually was under the impression it was another Nicholas Sparks film/novel this was based on.
That wouldn't matter though, because even movie sickness is best portrayed by someone we love to watch, but the fact it lies to itself ("you are a fairy tale/movie" is what someone should tell the voice over, if it actually helped ...
However, when Hazel meets the eighteen year-old Gus (Ansel Elgort), who lost part of one leg with cancer but apparently is cured, they fall in love with each other.
They travel to Netherlands with Frannie where Hazel will learn that things are not like they seem to be."The Fault in Our Stars" is a tiresome and too long romance.
The story has a promising beginning, sort of Gus Van Sant's "Restless" and supported by the good performances and chemistry of the young lead couple, but the film should have been edited to become shorter.
I can't describe how let down I feel There is so so much attention with this movie that I had to go and watch it so many people talking about it, adverts everywhere, ,I was so excited to see this cause I am a movie and especially a love movie sucker even better sad but I could just predict everything that was going to happen next in the movie like every little bit I've seen already before like much of it from "my sisters keeper" - which I did have tears to whereas not a tear shed with this movie I just felt like the acting wasn't very good either like shailaine (however u spell it) I absolutely loved her in divergent!
But in this movie I couldn't feel her or her character :-(( i want to watch it again and see what I'm missing , this has such a high rating :( I'm so disappointed that I left the cinemas with no emotions from the movie , I mean I couldn't even feel my eyes water (forgive me for my errors).
Josh Boone's film is about two kids named Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters who fall in love with each other when they meet at a cancer support group.
1-Open The Book 2-Read It 3-Watch The Movie 4-Review The Book , and you feel that you've seen all the things you expected without any deficiencies.
Weber have done their best.About the casts, I searched, but couldn't find anyone better than Shailene Woodley as Hazel and Ansel Elgort as Gus. We've seen them before in the Divergent but here they show how good they are.
Two things would be enough to prove their abilities; The way Ansel Elgort tries to communicate with all audiences and his co star by his body language and without any dialogue and sometimes just by staring into Hazel's eyes which shows that he has overwhelmed by his role and his character and the way Hazel tries to convince you she is in love with Gus. So, they've done their job perfectly.
There is no future to plan, there is no happiness to program and pursue, there is not even joy in watching a sunset, or in listening a symphony.And if you are lucky enough in finding love and have the valour to let yourself immerse in the feeling, it will never be without remembering that "to get a Rainbow you'll had to do with the rain".So, Mr. denizmoraligil, may God forbid that you experience that "much of the same", but also may God grant you a bit of charity and understanding to be able to discover the hidden beauty that some people have the heart to let out and accept even in the dreadful monotony of every one of their days, hours and seconds.To me, this movie is a "master piece" that shades feelings, worthy of 10*..
Yes I loved it however there were things in the book I think should have been in the movie.
I was totally spellbound on seeing an 8.2 rating for this movie.IMDb rating has nowadays become wholly untrustworthy.The whole thing seemed like a soap opera series with crying tears and sentiments.If so much people are giving this rating I believe it is only for the sob.In real life this is really heartbreaking but for a movie it is sick and pathetic.The heroine does not deliver anything and the hero seems worst.The whole movie does not even require a review.It does not do the main basic reason for a film--TO ENTERTAIN(whether for crying or for laugh or for horror or any other emotion.This movie is for immature people who like to cry on seeing rubbish sentiments......
This movie can make you sad for character's but if you think deeply u will find out that its true happiness of life that those characters feel in the Amsterdam trip.
I hope to read the book in the future, if I can find it.Some times I think we need more of this kind of movie, a REAL story, there are so many violent stories on the screen these days.god Bless the cast and all that worked on this movie..
The Fault in Our Stars directed by Josh Boone is a movie which combines both drama and romance, based upon the number-one bestselling novel by John Green, explores the funny, thrilling and tragic business of being alive and in love.
Ansel Elgort is charming, life affirming as gives excellent work as a fellow cancer patient who falls madly in love with Woodley's character, Hazel Grace.
So if you like a good love story that has a little humour to it, but manages to crush you a little as well, I highly recommend this movie..
The movie delivers sweetness and young love, and it truly is sweet, but at times it loses the flavor of the book.
The three people are the protagonists Gus (Ansel Elgort, with a smile that wins all), Hazel (Shailene Woodley) and Gus's delightful sidekick Isaac (Nat Wolff, equally delightful), all cancer patients.
"The fault in our stars" is an amazing love story reminding us that it doesn't always end happily ever after.
The Fault in Our Stars is not much more than a cliché romance movie, but with one main difference - the theme of cancer.
Haha...oh we get it ..we're supposed to laugh!!...ritual sacrifice another funny topic...hahaAfter this, it seemed like karma that the guy, who instigated all this, was dying in an especially miserable way...I was thinking..see, Mr self righteous..show intolerance and you suffer!...but I think the director missed this irony...The last message ran throughout and was nihilistic on the extreme constant assertions that there's nothing after this life because their miserable disease wouldn't be allowed by a caring God, and yet also preaching about how beautiful their love was..hint..show it, Mr director don't preach it...anyway if it was just a 1 year blip in a dying works where everything just ceases to exist..then how meaningful was it anyway??Two hours misspent but yet enlightening in that I saw first hand the propaganda Hollywood is pushing on young people...sad..but lapped up like milk by the young kids watching...add they said...amaaaazing!!!.
More likely backed-up by best-selling novel from John Green, "The Fault in Our Stars" is an honest yet faithful love story which containing some positive messages to inspire teenagers.
Besides that, the movie seems taking advantages from Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort's chemistry who easily makes an adorable couple and put some sweet moments from it.
It succeeds when it exposes us to the tragic relationship between its protagonists and the loved ones around them, and fails when it aspires to find new territory of plot and redemption for characters that are already born with unlimited amounts of pathos.Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) is as much a teenage girl as any other living in the United States.
Green's novel may have been about telling a heart-breaking love story between young teens, but much like Hazel's fascination with her favourite book and the open endedness of a certain literary character, Hazel's happiness is less about coming to terms with death, and more about the continuation of the life of her loved ones.
The interactions with the people who will survive and live well beyond Hazel's existence are never given their due diligence on-screen, especially her mother (played delicately by Laura Dern), always being pushed aside by the love story that will ultimately end in unhappiness and tears.There is sure to be a reason why Green's novel has becomes such a pop culture sensation.
They meet at a support group for youngsters experiencing cancer and her favourite novel, "An Imperial Affliction", takes them to Amsterdam where nothing goes as they expect.Since the movie is based on a best-selling young adult novel by John Green, it will find a ready audience in spite of its serious subject, but those who don't know the novel (like me) will find this an impressive and moving work because of the fine acting by the two leads - Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, both of whom star in the "Divergent" series - and the assured direction by young Josh Boone.
We both were touched by the story of a couple of young adults, Hazel (Shailene Woodley) and Gus (Ansel Elgort), both of whom have cancer, and their eventual love affair.
I know that is hard topic, but let's face it,when a film about cancer is in the billboards everybody thinks is a excellent movie when the big C is present in the synopsis.
I didn't feel like I loved the movie or the book better.
I'm giving this a 3 because I gave Boyhood a 2 and I think this movie deserves slightly better.I gave Boyhood a 2 because I come from China and I know what "abysmal" means and I wanted to separate Boyhood from those films that actually deserved absolute trash.But that's it.
"Hazel" (Shailene Woodley) meets "Gus" (Ansel Elgort) at a cancer support group meeting and they basically fall in love.
This led "Hazel" "Gus" and her mother "Frannie" played by Laura Dern to take a dream trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands seeking out answers to their questions regarding Van Houten's book.The end of the movie is quite tragic and emotional, but there's a twist of irony prior to the tragic ending.
Perhaps I missed something here, but to me the movie was more about a sweet teenage love story than it was about cancer.
Ansel Elgort shares the same feat by showing off his charms, until the performance becomes a nuance when the situation has got a lot serious.The Fault in Our Stars has favored enough for the fans by being a really good and faithful adaptation of the popular book, but a better movie would deeply contemplated more on the serious stuff.
Moreover, the acting was excellent, Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort were spectacular and were the perfect choice for the characters of Hazel and Augustus.
But still, its a very beautiful romantic movie that should please many fans of the book and also those who haven't, that will end up falling in love with Hazel and Augustus.
The best thing about this film is seeing Woodley and Elgort together as Hazel and Gus. The both of them had captured so well the essential chemistry of these two star- crossed lovers as described in the book, and this saves the film from being too depressing..
I almost cried a lot through out the movie And some time this is all we need an eternal love to live in this small part of the universe..
unbelievable thought!!!Another best scene was talking about your funeral, planning and discussing it with your only loved ones...like it.Its a very good movie not only for the people who know the value of LOVE, but especially for the Humans who want to be loved but do not have an idea about the want they have ??.
Shailene Woodley was great in White Bird in a Blizzard and The Spectacular Now. Ansel Elgort wasn't the best actor along Shailene Woodley either, she overshadowed him, which didn't make for good chemistry.To me the only redeeming part was the soundtrack, which was mostly indie music which fit the mood most of the time.The Fault in Our Stars is a generic teen romance movie.
Add to that a cast of young actors (an experienced actors) who 'live' their roles and the result is a film that should be experienced by everyone.Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) and Augustus (Ansel Elgort) are two teenagers who share an acerbic wit, a disdain for the conventional, and a love that sweeps them on a journey.
Sharing how the story plays out would involve spoilers for those who have not read the book.The on screen chemistry between Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgot sends this film into that rarefied realm of becoming a classic.
At no point during this movie did I wish it was over, and by the end of it I felt like I was able to gain something very positive...Which, by the way, should be the objective of any film.
Girls and women, You watch this movie and love it.
The Fault in Our Stars, adapted from John Green's novel of the same name, is the story of Hazel (Shailene Woodley) and Gus (Ansel Elgort), two teenage cancer patients who meet at a support group, form a friendship and fall in love.
The film stars Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort.
I simply loved this movie although I did not read the book yet..
If I would like to say good thing on this movie or nothing, I say that everyone worked so hard to make a successful movie and touch people's feeling.
but anyways i love this movie & i want watch it now!!!
My daughter when to an advance preview, the kind where you have a live by satellite Q&A session with the stars.As a parent you do end up questioning why would you want to see a romance movie about young people with cancer?
I had a sibling who had cancer at a young age, it was horrible, a nightmare and nothing like this movie.Hazel (Shailene Woodley) has cancer.
Sympathetic turns by future stars Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort make this "teenage cancer romance" film rise above the likes of other teen aimed fare in its genre.
The first time I watched I cried, it's a truly inspiring movie that is relatable to anyone even if they don't have cancer. |
tt0124315 | The Cider House Rules | Homer Wells grows up in an orphanage where he spends his childhood "being of use" as a medical assistant to the director, Dr. Wilbur Larch, whose history is told in flashbacks: After a traumatic misadventure with a prostitute as a young man, Wilbur turns his back on sex and love, choosing instead to help women with unwanted pregnancies give birth and then keeping the babies in an orphanage. He makes a point of maintaining an emotional distance from the orphans, so that they can more easily make the transition into an adoptive family, but when it becomes clear that Homer is going to spend his entire childhood at the orphanage, Wilbur trains the orphan as an obstetrician and then comes to love him like a son.
Wilbur's and Homer's lives are complicated by Wilbur also secretly being an abortionist. Wilbur came to this work reluctantly, but he is driven by having seen the horrors of back-alley operations. Homer, upon learning Wilbur's secret, considers it morally wrong.
As a young man, Homer befriends a young couple, Candy Kendall and Wally Worthington, who come to St. Cloud's for an abortion. Homer leaves the orphanage, and returns with them to Ocean View Orchards (Wally's family's orchard) in Heart's Rock, near the Maine coast. Wally and Homer become best friends and Homer develops a secret love for Candy. Wally goes off to serve in the Second World War and his plane is shot down over Burma. He is presumed missing by the military, but Homer and Candy both believe he is dead and move on with their lives, which includes beginning a romantic relationship. When Candy becomes pregnant, they go back to St. Cloud's Orphanage, where their son is born and named Angel.
Subsequently, Wally is found in Burma and returns home, paralyzed from the waist down. He is still able to have sexual intercourse but is sterile due to an infection caught in Burma. They lie to the family about Angel's parentage, claiming that Homer decided to adopt him. Wally and Candy marry shortly afterward, but Candy and Homer maintain a secret affair that lasts some 15 years.
Many years later, teenaged Angel falls in love with Rose. Rose, the daughter of the head migrant worker at the apple orchard, becomes pregnant by her father, and Homer performs an abortion on her. Homer decides to return to the orphanage after the death of Wilbur, to work as the new director. Though he maintains his distaste for abortions, he continues Dr. Larch's legacy of honoring the choice of his patients, and he dreams of the day when abortions are free, legal, and safe, so he'll no longer feel obliged to offer them.
A subplot follows the character Melony, who grew up alongside Homer in the orphanage. She was Homer's first girlfriend in a relationship of circumstances. After Homer leaves the orphanage, so does she in an effort to find him. She eventually becomes an electrician and takes a female lover, Lorna. Melony is an extremely stoic woman, who refuses to press charges against a man who brutally broke her nose and arm so that she can later take revenge herself. She is the catalyst that transforms Homer from his comfortable but not entirely admirable position at the apple orchard to becoming Dr. Larch's replacement at the orphanage. | dramatic, romantic, storytelling | train | wikipedia | This film was a comedy, a tragedy, a romance, a human-interest story, a character study, and a period piece, and each element was excellently done.This was all accomplished without sacrificing the philosophical and emotional depth Irving imbues in all his works.
He captures our admiration immediately, and despite his despicable act, we cannot help but pity him in the end.After having seen all the films that were nominated by the Academy for best picture last year, I have to say that this was my personal favorite.
All the acting is great (especially the nice low key performances by Macguire and Caine), BEAUTIFULLY shot (in Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts), a score that fits the movie like a glove and fully realized three-dimensional characters.
The young boy wants to be more useful in life and goes on his own way to end up working in an apple orchard and learning about lobster fishing.The Maguire boy/man character fights with his own morals and lack of worldliness as the movie progresses.
Interesting casting as well in using Hip-Hop/R&B artists, Erykah Badu and Heavy D in small, but important parts.The movie was a wonderful mix of laughter, tears, and human emotion, and magnificently directed by Halle Lasström.
Part of the charm of "Cider House Rules", a coming-of-age movie with Tobey Maguire at the center, is the finesse with which it presents itself as a "feel good" movie when most of the characters have precious little to feel good about.
Sentimental but well-told, visually beautiful and enjoyable story of an orphanage and the moral dilemmas of abortion, exploring emotional issues from leaving home and fatherhood, to first love, self-discovery and the burdens of responsibility.
Michael Caine works his usual brilliance, Charlize Theron is gorgeous and believable, and Toby Maguire grows up both on the film and off.
I found this movie not only well written, screen-played, played and edited, but I also found it had a true message of goodness in it, which goes beyond the nice story that you might want to dive into from time to time.
I think it is difficult to separate both notions presented by the movie: morality (is abortion a good or a bad thing, and from which point of view as both are present), and equality between Men, in terms of the racial issue.
The "rules" which are part of the movie title in the first place, are imposed on the Afro-Americans who work in the Cider House, assuming they are stupid and unable to behave responsibly and with common sense.
The Cider House Rules (1999)Playing with tough themes for the 19th Century (really tough, like many abortions and a father sleeping with his daughter as well as some casual drug use by a country doctor) and couching everything amidst a Maine culture of doing the best thing as much as humanly possible, this movie is a sentimental masterpiece.
The sentiment keeps it from being quite unqualified masterpiece, but the naturalism of the three main actors (Michael Caine, Tobey Maguire, and Charlize Theron) makes it rather convincing.
It's almost an American fable with moral edges like "To Kill a Mockingbird," tightly knit and with a higher ground charted above the usual trench warfare around the issues, particularly illegal abortions.The director Lasse Hallstrom is the wild card here, and deserves unusual praise coming almost out of nowhere on this
almost meaning he did have "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and "My Life as a Dog" behind him.
(I have to confess I found his more recent "Shipping News" unbearable but I know a lot of people were really moved by it.)Beyond the story and the stars, it's really worth saying the there is a cast of secondary characters--nurses at the orphanage and a crew of African-American apple pickers at the orchard--that deserve huge praise.
I find that his stories, in absence of his narrative voice, miss the point (his point).The Cider House Rules, on the other hand, captures the essence of the novel, most notably through Michael Caine's voice-overs and dialogue.
The Cider House Rules is now my favorite movie, and the best I've seen in years.
I've never read the book The Cider House Rules, but this movie seemed to have really touched on something special.
I could not for the life of me understand the hype over "American Beauty" with this movie in the running - it was more heartfelt, had a much better script and a better message overall, and most importantly, left me with a good feeling leaving the theater.
As we also find out at the end of the movie, Michael Caine's character has falsified Homer's medical records in order to disqualify him for military service service.
Lasse Hallstrom's (1999) film is based on John Irving's semi-autobiographical novel.Set in Maine, USA during World War II, it tells the story of a most unusual orphanage and the truly remarkable people who run it.Joining pragmatic and single-minded obstetrician Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine), ably assisted by Nurse Edna (Jane Alexander) and Nurse Angela (Kathy Baker) all in ward uniform it soon becomes obvious that this is no ordinary orphanage.As we follow Dr Larch into the maternity unit we first meet his young apprentice Homer Wells (Tobey McGuire) and quickly learn that not everything is as we might expect in this department either.But as our understanding of what counts for 'normal procedure' widens we soon come to feel a genuine sense of involvement in the lives of the children who live there and the unconventional adults who care for them.Dr Larch, as well as a great humanitarian and fan of Charles Dickens, is a drug addict and although Homer is well ahead of his years in female anatomy and physiology, he is overdue for a visit to the outside world.An opportunity comes in the person of Flight Lieutenant Wally Worthington (Paul Rudd) and his prematurely pregnant fiancé Candy Kendall (Charlize Theron).
Accompanied by his unpromisingly named daughter Rose Rose (Erykah Badhu), the small group in the bunk house provide a rich learning environment for the perceptive, but naive Homer.Homer's adventures are many and as the story twists and turns, he finds love and best of all he finds himself through his experience of the wider community he now inhabits.There is so much more in this film that space permits to even hint at.
The cast and crew made this experience so enjoyable, despite the arrival of cold weather and plenty of rain.I urge all John Irving fans to see the film, and to understand that Irving was responsible for the screen adaptation, compressing a huge novel into the standard time format allowable.
Fairly dripping with heartrending melodrama, this coming-of-age story, set in Maine during the 1940s, centers on a boy named Homer Wells (Tobey Maguire) who grows up in an orphanage and then learns about adulthood in the outside world.
The film's direction and color cinematography are bland and mediocre, totally unremarkable."The Cider House Rules" is the kind of film that Hollywood insiders dearly love: sweet and uplifting, a real feel-good movie heavy on manipulative emotionalism.
The Cider House Rules was a very well made film, the settings and camera work was quiet remarkable, the movie was sad, and everybody did a great job with the acting although Toby McGuire smiled too much.
Charlize Theron did a great role, and she suited her character very well, the film at times was very predictable thus making the film a little less interesting than intened, but still Cider House Rules is a film that you should enjoy.ACTING: Very good, i didnt notice any flunkers in the film, everybody was suited into their roles nicely, and each cast member had good acting performances.ACTORS: A great choice with the actors, a great choice, and its evident that they spent alot of time wondering who to cast in the film, and they made a very good choice, this was pleasing.SCRIPT: Quiet good, it did flaw in a few points, like the story didnt really kick off anywhere, it really needed a boost up, and the writers shouldnt have made it so predictable, this could have been better.CINEMA: Fantastic camera work and angles, lovely paronamic views, lovely farms and great scenes in the snow, make Cider House Rules a lovely film to look at.DRAMA: There were some dramatic scenes in the film, but the film in general was sad, yet there was something that kept you smiling at the end, find out what it was by watching it.MUSIC: Music was fairly good, and used appropriately especially during the tense or "sad" scenes, it set the mood on very well.OVERALL: The Cider House Rules by no means was a 5 star movie, yet everything evolves right in the movie, in all it ends up being a lovely Drama film, which may require a few tissues, a very good film, yet far from perfect.***1/2 (3 and a half stars).
It wouldn't be so bad if it was actually saying anything important, but it's not at all.The film is the most basic coming-of-age story of a young man experiencing life for the rest time and it doesn't strive to do...anything, really.
Michael Caine and Delroy Lindo do fine supporting work, but Caine disappears after the first act and Lindo's character goes down a narrative path that is probably the worst thing about the film -- it's so absurd and out of absolutely nowhere, I'm honestly still trying to wrap my head around what that was even doing here.The whole thing sets up so many strands for the plot but doesn't center itself well enough and when it tries to tie all of those strands together it comes apart completely.
Not having read the book, I still felt the story condensed, and some of its other threads not fully realized, like the subject of abortion which starts very strongly, but then fades for a while only to come back later at the end.
Tobey Maguire is likeable as usual, but gives a performance similar to his role in Pleasantville -with little or no emotion and seeming to have more insight into other character's lives than John Irving, the author, himself.
Come Oscar time, you won't see The Cider House Rules in any big category, but still it is a movie that will play well and be enjoyed by many..
Dr. Larch (Caine) and Homer (McGuire) debate the merits of both positions.following the rules: It explores the differences between following the rules and doing what is right and making yourself useful.The appeal of the movie is the essential goodness of the all the characters.
If The Cider House Rules wins even ONE award (and it looks like that's going to be Best Supporting Actor for Michael Caine, who worked with a dialogue coach for two weeks and STILL couldn't even keep his accent consistent), we'll know it was bought, not won.
Wade way back in 1973, or DOING SOMETHING COURAGEOUS, as Candy does when she comforts Rose Rose with her own pregnancy/abortion confession and Homer does when he confronts Mr. Rose and then breaks his own "rule" about medical procedures.John Irving challenges his readers and the film's viewers to mind their own "business" -- to reject the option of "doing nothing" when faced with injustice and cruelty and to get off their asses and speak out against the pig-headed fools who make the rules that restrict women's choices in real life.I'm annoyed that so many of the "professional" reviews I've read dance around this issue and even stupidly claim the film is "about nothing" and "goes nowhere." Maybe these reviewers have seen too many things-go-boom films and can't recognize a film about real people growing.
That would have climaxed the movie in the best way to underscore the vocation Homer chose in going back to the orphanage, leaving Candy, and making sure no more unwanted children ended up in a place where they couldn't possibly find any self worth..
The cider house rules is the best movie of the year, but obviously the Academy Award's voters don't like abortion very much.
I think it is so much better than American beauty, The green mile, The sixth sense...This movie is more than abortion, it talks about life, feelings, death, friendship, loneliness...is a beautiful film.
With all due respect to John Irving's decision to adapt the novel for film (and condense the time period in his original story), I actually believe the strength of the book is its scope of time and breadth of emotion, and I fear it will lose a lot by being changed to fit a standard film format.
Despite his best efforts, Dr. Larch never is able to convince Homer to perform abortions.The film and the book are not the same- the book is simply far too long to include everything.
She was a very powerful character, and Irving feared she'd overpower others in the film, especially since Michael Caine wanted to play a softer Dr. Larch.
It ought to be, because Irving adapted the novel for the film and won an Oscar for his efforts.This is not a fluffy movie to half pay attention to while doing something else.
And so it was with a young man who grew up an orphan in the State of Maine, in the years preceding World War II, in `The Cider House Rules,' directed by Lasse Hallstrom.
Under the tutelage and watchful eye of Dr. Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine), the administrator of the orphanage in which Homer Wells (Tobey Maguire) had lived his whole life, Homer, by 1943, had become quite knowledgeable and adept in the field of medicine.
Hallstrom presents the story with acuity and care, drawing upon the innate humanity of the characters--especially Dr. Larch and Homer-- to bring it all to life.
As good as Caine is, however, the film clearly belongs to Maguire, who gives a masterfully understated performance as Homer.
Highlighted by outstanding performances and the sensitive interpretation and delivery of the story by Hallstrom, `The Cider House Rules' is a touching excursion into the depths of human emotions, and a taste of what life is all about.
"The Cider House Rules" is overall a good film, but its messages are somewhat disjointed and hard to recognize.
I hope to see her in more films, soon.The Cider House Rules deals with the fundamental questions of life and brilliantly discusses them through John Irving's depiction of a Maine orphanage.
I thought Toby Maguire, Michael Caine, Charleze Theron, Paul Rudd, Jane Alexander, Kathy Baker, Erikka Baduu, Heavy D and the rest of the cast put forth a great effort and I urge all the John Irving fans out there to go and enjoy this late Fall release..
Ambitious movie, with some good acting from the great Michael Caine - Tobi Maguire plays the same guy who he always plays which is fine but how many times have you seen his act?
A pitch-perfect performance by Tobey MaGuire highlights this coming-of-age story about an orphan who, as a young adult, decides to leave his orphanage home for his very first time and explore what's out there.
The comments made on abortion are very personal to the characters and in this well-acted movie it makes them important to the viewer.The best thing about this movie is it made me feel good to watch it and I think that most people that give it a chance will feel the same way..
"The Cider House Rules," written by John Irving, stands as one of my favorite novels of all time, so imagine my anticipation of seeing it brought to screen.
I didn't mind Michael Caine (excellent line: "Good night, you princes of Maine -- you kings of New England!"), and though I really like both Toby Maguire and Charlize Theron, neither of them posses the magic of Irving's characters, and certainly don't create an attachment that viewers care about in the film.
The movie has two main characters: the doctor (played by Michael Caine) and Homer (played somewhat lacklusterdly by Tobey Maguire), who is an orphan that doesn't stay adopted.
I then read the book by John Irving and it was 10 times better than the movie even.
This movie has so many beautiful things to show although the story isn't always this "nice" it is an extreme piece of art showing us what true compassion can bring to the world.John Irving must receive an oscar for an incredible tour de force translating such a great book to this script.
When Homer breaks away to take care of himself, he discovers that there are no set rules to life - we must write our own.Cider House Rules is about tearing down the "posted" rules and writing your own, especially when it comes to LOVE.
In "The Cider House Rules," life is presented as taking place within a particular context, in an amazingly realistic way (not everybody is in control, just like in real life -- there are times when things get out of control, and we don't know why).
I have to join all of the previous posts regarding the new film version of John Irving's CIDER HOUSE RULES.
Yet, he does what's right all through the film.I think that Homer Wells learns that the legal rules of society are much like the Cider House Rules; irrelevant..
Tobey McGuire is at his best as Homer Wells, the sheltered orphan desperate for his first taste of life and love, as is the always fabulous Michael Caine as the lovable Dr. Larch.
and this movie proves the point.John Irving wrote the filmscript and even he acknowledged that the film was too "small" to capture the book.
Charming film of life in a Maine orphanage around time of World War II.
The actors are all extremely impressive, Tobey Maguire is perfect for the role of Homer, while Charlize Theron, Paul Rudd and Michael Caine make for an engaging supporting cast. |
tt0049487 | The Maverick Queen | Beautiful and willful Kit Banion is the Maverick Queen. She is a saloon owner and one of the leaders of an outlaw gang called the Wild Bunch. As the story unfolds Kit proves she is tough and smart, and can ride and shoot as well as any man. A Pinkerton agent posing as outlaw Jeff Younger is sent to infiltrate the Wild Bunch and gather evidence against the gang. As Jeff works his way into the gang he soon meets Kit. Kit falls hard for Jeff and throws over her former lover Sundance. As things progress Kit falls more in love with Jeff, never suspecting his true identity. Eventually a series of events exposes Jeff and he is made prisoner at the gang's hideout. Kit learns of Jeff's true identity and risks everything to ride to the hideout to save him. Kit slips into the hideout and helps Jeff escape. They are closely pursued by the gang and after a chase Jeff and Kit are cornered in a cabin. Jeff and Kit attempt to break out of the trap and a gun battle ensues. Jeff is wounded and Kit helps him to a place of safety. Kit is fatally wounded while shielding Jeff from a member of the gang and dies in Jeff's arms as the posse arrives to save the day. The Wild Bunch comes to an end because of the Maverick Queen. | historical fiction | train | imdb | One night in camp her and her partner are joined by Jeff Young a man who saves them when they are later ambushed by the Sundance Kid and his gang.
Sundance reports back to Kit Banion (aka the Maverick Queen) and she in enraged by his failure.
Shame then that it doesn't all come off, it is interesting and engaging but it does struggle to keep it tight with so many things going on I wasn't sure exactly what my focus was supposed to be.
This is also seen by it taking 15 minutes before the title character actually made it onto screen, not that bad a thing but just further suggestion of the slight lack of focus that made it a bit harder to get into.
The characters don't all make sense and again the lack of focus meant I was confused as to who I was following.The cast aren't much help in this regard either because nobody really steps up and makes the film their own.
Stanwyck tries hard but she was approaching the end of her long career at this point and she isn't helped by being left in the background for most of the start of the film while the much younger Murphy makes us think the film is about her.
Brady, Petrie and a few others make for interesting bad guys but their performances aren't that interesting and they just accept whatever changes the script throws at them.Overall this is an enjoyable enough western that is fairly run-of-the-mill despite having aspects of it that are more than the standard stuff.
Stanwyck's portrayal of the outlaw woman Kit Banion is an all-time classic.
Stanwyck perfect for the role of the beautiful and strong-willed Kit Banion, leader of the Wild Bunch outlaw gang who can ride and shoot with the best of them.
Perhaps the first thing to note about this film is that the Maverick Queen herself, Kit Banion - cattle trader, saloon proprietor, hand in glove with Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, and the richest woman in Rock Springs - doesn't actually appear until ten to fifteen minutes into the action!
Even then, we initially assume she must be a minor character; surely the lady of the title song must be Lucy Lee - sweeter, younger and far less hard-faced - the girl the hero has already rescued in the first scenes?
(Mary Murphy, just two years into her career, as opposed to Barbara Stanwyck, at this point a full twenty-five years into - and almost at the end of - hers.)But Kit soon takes charge of the situation; and she can look after herself.
There is a scene which cleverly subverts the audience's expectations, in which she is attacked and her lover rides to the rescue - only, before he can arrive, she saves the situation single-handed by deliberately sending her opponent over a cliff.
And in the final gun-battle, it is she who takes an active part when her lover is wounded, forcing him to keep moving, shooting without hesitation to protect him and taking a bullet in his defence.The outlaw gang in this film are not the usual brutal but dim-witted cannon fodder provided for the hero's benefit, either.
As it turns out, they've spotted the plot twist long before the audience (or before me at least!) When the fugitives hole up in a cabin, the pursuers actually take advantage of their superior numbers to surround the cabin and force their way in - and later on, instead of obligingly shooting it out, they simply set fire to the building in order to smoke out their quarry.
Sundance's disappearance after he gets the worse of a struggle with Kit is greeted by Cassidy with no more than "Well, I guess he deserved it", and his subsequent return is accepted with an equal shrug: "Thought you were dead, but I'm glad you ain't." There is no question, for example, of the rest of the outlaws hesitating for a moment to attack when they ride up just because Kit happens to have two of their number held at gunpoint.My main problem with this film is that none of the principal characters seem to have any real motivation for what they are doing.
Jeff at least has a plot rationale for his inconsistent actions - and for why we never see beyond his surface - but neither Kit nor Sundance seem to have sufficient justification for acting clean against their own best interests.
In both cases, they are presumably intended to be in the grip of an overwhelming and unreciprocated affection - but Sundance spends the entire film chasing Lucy Lee rather than the woman who has supposedly prompted him to wild jealousy, and the Maverick Queen also displays an unjustified and distinctly surprising concern towards her.
After all, not only did we see Kit cold-bloodedly engineering this same girl's bankruptcy for her own profit earlier in the film, but she also has to know by this stage that Lucy is her rival for Jeff's affections!But whether due to bad acting or a poor script, Kit doesn't really give the impression in any case of having fallen passionately enough for Jeff to make it plausible that she should give up everything for him.
Her early appearance, when we naturally assume she is the title character, leads us to expect that she is going to have a much larger role than ultimately transpires, but in fact, that initial scene more or less sums up her entire function - to act as a (repeated) plot device so that Sundance's pursuit of her can allow Jeff to get the better of him, and to provide the token 'good woman' required as the hero's love interest.
There is no convincing relationship of any kind established between her and Jeff, any more than there is between Jeff and Kit - or Kit and Sundance.All these characters come across as masks, without little or nothing real going on behind their faces.
That lack of engagement on the part of the audience is, I think, the fatal flaw in this film.I gather it is a Zane Grey adaptation.
Given its intelligently-drawn villains, morally ambiguous title character and cleverly set-up twist, the material might have made even a great off-beat Western...I'm afraid, however, that this isn't it..
In The Maverick Queen you will find the characters of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid in support of Barbara Stanwyck.
And Brady as Sundance is a sexual predator as well.The Maverick Queen was made in the last days of Republic Pictures which was the home of the B movie cowboy.
Something like The Maverick Queen would never have been made at Republic ten years ago.This movie is about sex, it concentrates on Barbara Stanwyck who operates against her own interest because of her attraction for Barry Sullivan.
She's tired of the Sundance Kid as a lover, in fact she urges him to take a bath before putting the moves on her again when we first meet her.As for Brady when it becomes obvious about her attraction to Sullivan, he tries to kill Stanwyck and later attempts to rape Mary Murphy.
The Maverick Queen boasts some nice location photography and was the first of Republic's films to be filmed for the wide screen.
Joni James also sings the title song over the credits and I liked her rendition of it.Unfortunately The Maverick Queen should have been done when the Code was finally done away with, a lot of plot holes might not have occurred.
With notable patrons being none other than Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. Fighting off the romantic advances of Sundance, Kit's life gets more interesting when she becomes attracted to a relative of the Younger Brothers' outlaw posse.
Kit could very well be jeopardising much more than a unfulfilled romance if she falls in with the stranger?Directed by the genre prolific Joe Kane and based upon on the novel written by Zane Grey, The Maverick Queen is something of a wasted premise, with all the elements are in place for a twisty psychological Western.
A squib briefly sparked by Barbara Stanwyk (Kit) in one of her later career tough feminine roles, and a pretty as a picture Mary Murphy who also gets to show a bit of spunk.
But the girls can't carry the picture alone...Barry Sullivan was a safe and amiable actor, he however was far from being a leading man who was able to carry a picture up front, thus here as the leading protagonist he struggles badly as he tries to make the tepid Kenneth Gamet screenplay work.
There's a nice kicker in the finale - something that saves the piece from rotting at the bottom of the "B" Western barrel, but sadly it's just not decent enough to warrant a second glance - rendering as fact that both Stanwyck and the audience deserved better.
When Barbara Stanwyck's era of Hollywood superstardom came to an abrupt end in the early fifties, she refused to quit and became the star of a number of feminist westerns which cast her as a tough yet sensuous aging woman in tight pants and a cowboy hat, oftentimes the leader of an outlaw gang.
The Maverick Queen has a bigger budget (and was shot in color) but lacks the energy and magnetism of that later film - both, however, co-star he with Barry Sullivan, a highly underrated leading man who enjoyed far greater success on TV (including a two year stint as Pat Garrett on The Tall Man) than in the movies.
And as the badguy, her former boyfriend the Sundance Kid, there's Scott Brady - who played The Dancing Kid in JOHNNY GUITAR, the very best of the odd westerns that cast visibly aging former big name female stars in cowgirl roles.
Pretty routine stuff bordering on bad in a few scenes...even with Stanwyck chipping in.
The Maverick Queen (1956)Well Barbara Stanwyck made a lot of Westerns in the 1950s, and most of them are routine stuff, and in them she has often limited if still central roles.
She's in the film much less than her co-stars, and the story is a patched together set of common problems--the cattle rancher faces trouble from the cattle rustlers and a hero has come to town, and a little love is going to cross the frontier.The key difference in all these movies is that Stanwyck plays a strong, sometimes very very strong, woman.
you have to pay close attention (and show some patience) to keep in on track.For one example, without giving too much away, the main man, played well by Barry Sullivan, is new in town, and he says he's Jeff Younger, a famous gunslinger.
But then another man arrives in town and says he's Jeff Younger.
Along the same lines, the pretty young girl in town is another strong woman, clearly a good one, and her sidekick is a lazy loaf but a good guy, until you see him start telling people things he shouldn't.
These are really great plot twists but they aren't handled with total clarity or given the impact you might expect so the movie totters a bit.The director, it might be noted, is Joseph Kane, who pretty much only did Westerns, over a hundred of them, and he probably didn't distinguish one from another very well.
(It's a full color Republic Pictures production, and there are corners cut.)The one other interesting side note is the presence of Sundance as a major character (and Butch Cassidy as a very minor one).
But she, too, seems to realize she's doing routine stuff.A final note--I saw this on TCM, and for the first time in twenty years of watching movies there I saw one that was not shown full screen.
With a side plot of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid thrown in, The Maverick Queen can appeal to a wider audience than just die-hard western fans.
Barbara Stanwyck, in her pre-The Big Valley phase, plays a tough saloon owner whose independent attitude attracts attention from both Barry Sullivan and Scott Brady.This one doesn't really stand out in my mind as being an exceptional western, but if you liked Barbara and Barry's chemistry in Forty Guns, you might want to check this out to see them together again.
Stanwyck betrays her outlaw gang to promote and save her new love..
The site summary says that Kit Banion(Barbara Stanwick) was dubbed The Maverick Queen because in her early days around Rock Springs, she would round up all the unbranded cattle she could find and brand them.
Considering the 2 female characters(Kit, and Mary Murphy , as Lucy Lee), this can be deduced as an iconic 'good' girl vs.
'bad' girl film, although they aren't visibly competing for the attention of the lead male: Barry Sullivan, masquerading as Jeff Younger, nephew of the infamous Younger brothers.
In fact, toward the end, they sometimes cooperate as partners with Jeff against the Hole in the Wall Gang, which Kit has been an indispensable part of......If you remember the ending of the Anthony Mann western "The Far Country" Ruth Roman, as the young middle-aged 'bad 'girl, and Corinne Calvert, as the young 'good' girl both had their eyes on Jimmy Stewart, who was fighting for his life against the villain, played by John McIntire.
Kit dies trying to defend the wounded Jeff against a variety of gang members, leaving a cute Lucy as the apparent winner.
In both cases, the younger 'good' girl won, although this is not always the case in westerns("Abilene Town" comes to mind as a clear counter example).......Eventually Jim Davis, dubbed 'The Stranger' in the credits, shows up, looking dapper in his all black outfit.
He would like to meet the outlaw gang, and goes riding off.
Kit would like him to replace The Sundance Kid(Scott Brady) as her primary lover, but recommends that he relocate far from the gang, which she considers doomed, in the long run.
The film was produced by Republic, not long before the demise of this studio, with the phasing out of B westerns.......This was one of the last Hollywood films Barbara would star in.
It was also near the beginning of her emphasis on westerns, which would culminate in her "The Big Valley" TV series, that ended about a decade later.
She would again costar with Barry Sullivan the following year in the western "Forty Guns".
As a leading member of Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid's cattle rustling group, Stanwyck as always shows that she is up to the task.Realizing that the western area is changing with all the settlers coming in, she correctly predicts the end of the era and that the gang will be wiped out.
Butch and Sundance certainly aren't glamorized here as they were with Paul Newman and Robert Redford's "Sundance Kid" in 1969.Despite her participation in this illegal enterprise, Stanwyck is looking for something better in the men she chooses and she finds that in Barry Sullivan, who has infiltrated the gang, a Pinkerton Detective man.A good film which is filmed with traditional lines-"We can't go back," and "I made my path.".
Long before Barbara Stanwyck worked with "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" star Katharine Ross on "The Colbys", she had her own encounter with Butch and Sundance in this colorful western made by Republic Pictures in the mid 1950's.
In her encounter with Sundance (Scott Brady), she tells him "Somewhere along the way, sometime, I'll meet a better man like the ones I used to know, and when I do, I'll drop you like a poisonous snake!" A rail thin Stanwyck shows what she does best, standing up to sinister men, and being just as ruthless in getting what she wants.
Stanwyck rides, shoots and fights with the toughness of the fiercest western hero (heroine).
She finds her match in Jeff Younger (Barry Sullivan), telling him "That's a great name to slung around carelessly" upon their first meeting, indicating to Sundance that she has found the better man.The film makes reference not only to the Younger Brothers ("You might be Younger, but you won't be older if you don't watch out!"), Butch and Sundance but "The Wild Boys" (a violent western made the same year as the Newman/Redford pairing).
Pretty Mary Murphy is perhaps younger and more feminine than the still striking Stanwyck (nearing 50!), but she more than holds her own in her scenes with the female master of melodrama.
"The only way you leave the wild bunch is feet first", Stanwyck explains as she shows shows Kit's softness in a romantic scene with Sullivan, who is not as he appears to be.
Considering that "The Maverick Queen" was the first widescreen film from Republic Studios, you'd think it would be a prestige picture.
Well, apart from sporting a once A-list actress Barbara Stanwyck (who looks pretty awful in color under such heavy makeup), it was far from a memorable movie.The film is about Butch Cassidy and the Hole in the Wall gang.
It seems they are being aided, covertly, by a lady (Stanwyck) who runs a business called 'The Maverick Queen'.
When a guy comes into town saying he wants to join the gang (Barry Sullivan) and that he's Jeff Younger (of the famous Younger gang), Stanwyck goes gaga for the guy and blindly pushed him into a role in their next robbery.
At first the ruse seems to work--until the REAL Younger shows up--then it sure looks as if Nelson's days are numbered.
Additionally, in a scene when there is a showdown and Nelson's character attacks Sundance, not once does Sundance call out for help from his gang who is waiting outside!!
Because of bad writing there is never any suspense in the film if you've seen many westerns--you know what MUST happen with each and every cliché--especially the ending.
Passable entertainment but no more and perhaps my score of 5 is a bit generous.Please note: In the film, Sundance is killed. |
tt0780653 | The Wolfman | In 1891, Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt) writes to Lawrence Talbot (Benicio del Toro) to tell him that his brother, Ben, has disappeared. Lawrence, a renowned Shakespearean actor, is touring London and races to the family's estate in Blackmoor. He has been estranged from his family for many years, since his father, Sir John Talbot (Anthony Hopkins) sent him to an insane asylum after witnessing his mother's mysterious death. When Lawrence arrives, Talbot Hall is in disrepair. John tells him that Ben's mauled body had been found the day before.Lawrence goes into town to see the body, which is kept at the local slaughterhouse. The butcher gives Ben's personal effects to Lawrence. Later, in the local tavern, Lawrence overhears the locals debate about who was responsible. Many blame a band of gypsies who are camped outside of town. Another claims that several decades earlier a similar murder had happened and that his father suspected a werewolf. Among Ben's belongings was a medallion that had been purchased from the gypsies.After Gwen leaves for London, Lawrence goes to the gypsy camp on the night of a full moon. Maleva (Geraldine Chaplin) tells him that something evil had befallen his brother. The local townspeople descend on the camp to force them to turn over a dancing bear that might have been the killer. But a superhumanly strong wolf-like creature descends on the camp, slaughtering many people. Lawrence sees a young boy run into the woods. Intending to rescue him, Lawrence follows but is attacked by the creature, who bites him on the shoulder before being chased off by the armed townspeople. Maleva sutures his wounds. Her daughter says Lawrence should be killed, but Maleva refuses, saying he is still a man. Only a loved one can kill him.Gwen returns toTalbot Hall to nurse Lawrence back to health. He has several fearful dreams but after a few weeks appears to have completely healed. John's faithful manservant, Singh (Art Malik) shows Lawrence the silver bullets he has and implies that something monstrous is on the loose in Blackmoor. Inspector Abberline (Hugo Weaving) arrives from London to investigate the recent murders. He suspects Lawrence because of his past mental issues and masterful portrayals of mentally ill protagonists like Hamlet and Macbeth. Worried about what might happen, Lawrence sends Gwen away again. He then follows to John to Lady Talbot's crypt. He finds his father in the catacombs beneath the crypt, in a shrine to the dead mother -- a shrine that includes a chair specially fitted with restraints. John tells Lawrence that he has been dead for years, then locks himself in the room alone. As Lawrence tries to leave, he turns into the Wolf Man. Rampaging through the woods, he kills several townspeople who had created a trap in hopes of catching the monster. The next day, John leads Abberline and the local police to where a dazed, bloody human Lawrence is hiding.Lawrence is taken to the same asylum in London where he was incaracerated as a child. Dr. Hoenneger (Anthony Sher) subjects him to ice-water and electrotherapy treatments. John visits Lawrence to explain the curse hanging over the family. Many years before, John had been hunting in India. Intrigued by reports of an unusual predator living in a remote cave, John traveled to a remote area. In the cave, he was bitten by a feral boy and infected with lycanthropy. Lawrence realizes that he had seen his father as a werewolf kill their mother. John had relied on Singh to imprison him during full moons. John escaped the month before and killed Ben and attacked the gypsy camp. Now invigorated by the power of being a werewolf, John has no intention of restraining his power anymore. He leaves Lawrence in the asylum.Dr. Hoenneger takes Lawrence to an observation room to present him to his colleagues as an interesting test case. As the full moon streams through the window, Lawrence transforms into the Wolf Man in front of the doctors. He kills Dr. Hoenneger and escapes into the night. Abberline, who had been attending the demonstration, pursues him, shooting at him as he races along the rooftops. The Wolf Man kills people in a trolley before disappearing into the night. The next day a human Lawrence visits Gwen at her antique shop. They realize they have fallen in love. Abberline arrives and searches the shop. But Lawrence has already escaped and begun the long walk back to Blackmoor.Gwen studies lycanthropy and tracks down Maleva to ask her help. Maleva confirms that Lawrence cannot be cured and asks God to help Gwen do what she must. Abberline tracks Lawrence to Blackmoor, this time armed with silver bullets. Gwen makes her way there as well.Lawrence arrives at Talbot Hall and finds Singh's mauled body hanging in the foyer. He loads a gun with Singh's silver bullets and tracks John through the house. He finds John in the study. The silver bullets are duds and John beats Lawrence. When the full moon rises, they both transform into werewolves and fight to death. In their struggle, the room catches on fire. The Wolf Man kicks John into the fire, burning him alive, then decapitates him. Gwen arrives hoping to save Lawrence. When the Wolf Man attacks her, Abberline bursts in and shoots at him. As Gwen flees with Abberline's revolver, the Wolf Man bites Abberline but chases Gwen rather than finish him off.The Wolf Man traps Gwen above a waterfall. She lays down the gun and pleads with the man still inside the beast. Lawrence's consciousness faintly returns and the Wolf Man hesitates. When he is distracted by the sounds of a posse coming to kill him, Gwen retrieves the revolver and shoots him with a silver bullet. As he lays dying, Lawrence reverts to human form and thanks Gwen for doing what needed to be done. The wounded Abberline and the posse arrive as Lawrence dies. | boring, gothic, murder, stupid, cult, violence, flashback, insanity | train | imdb | null |
tt0403407 | Perfect Creature | The film opens as a pregnant woman (Danielle Cormack) gives birth to a vampire. A young Brother, Silus, aged 10–13 is told this child, Edgar and he are from the same mother. Throughout this introduction the mother is in visible emotional distress, reaching out across the room to Silus, trying to touch him.
Captioned "100 Years Later." Jamestown slum has had a series of attacks on women, who are all found with their throats bitten. Lilly Squires (Saffron Burrows) is in charge of the human police investigating these cases. She states that she comes from a workhouse in this same slum, and we establish that she is one of the few cops who care what happens to these people at the bottom of the socioeconomic heap. Lilly finds a small boy who witnesses one attack, and tells her that a Brother was responsible. As the police don't want to panic the city, the string of murders is explained away as being the result of an outbreak of the rampant influenza virus.
Silus (Dougray Scott) is detailed by the church cardinals to work with the human police, because the Brothers know that these attacks have been carried out by a Brother; Silus's brother Edgar (Leo Gregory). Edgar has sent Silus a recording of his last murder, challenging him to find and stop him before he kills again. Edgar provides the location of his next murder.
With Silus' help, Lilly puts together a task force to stake out the area Edgar has targeted. However Edgar distracts the cops and attacks Lilly, biting her in the neck. An officer interrupts the attack and Edgar flees. To save Lilly's life, Silus tells her to drink his blood, which she does. Silus then pursues Edgar, managing to shoot him with a tranquilizing dart. Silus later visits Lilly in hospital. We establish that she has no family as they died from influenza. Lilly is having visions from drinking Silus' blood. The newspapers have published a fake story of the death of the killer; a deranged human who believed he was a Brother.
Edgar is being held in a "brace", a spiked body restraint in a cell in the church basement. Because Silus is soon to be made a member of the "inner circle" he is told the full details of what happened to Edgar. The cardinals are worried that not a single Brother has been born for 70 years, and that a female vampire has never been born. Although they have publicly banned genetic research, the church has been carrying it out in secret. Edgar has been developing a virus to inject into pregnant women, to force the baby to be born a vampire. Alas the virus has mutated, and it has turned the women into violent, insane, psychopaths. Ten of Edgar's research subjects are already dead, and the last one is dying. Edgar has also become infected, and is now insane, although the effect is slower due to his strong immune system.
Silus visits Edgar, who vows to escape and finish off Lilly. Edgar accuses Silus of being in love with Lilly, despite Brothers being forbidden to love. The night Silus is at a ceremony in the church for his investiture as a cardinal Edgar escapes, killing the guards and receptionist, and disappears into Jamestown. He enlists the help of a local named Freddy to help him catch Lilly. Edgar has installed a tap and tube system into his forearm, so he can turn on a flow of his own infected blood at any time. He catches a policewoman and fills her mouth with his blood. Freddy insists on getting his own share as well, not knowing it is infected.
Silus is guarding Lilly at her apartment with Lilly's colleague Jones. When she is sleeping Silus shows some affection for her by imagining kissing her. Later, Silus leaves to investigate a noise downstairs and Lilly and Jones patrol around. When Lilly approaches a window, Edgar bursts through from outside and grabs her. Silus and Edgar grapple, however Silus is knocked unconscious long enough for Edgar and Lilly to disappear.
The virus has spread throughout Jamestown. The government has instituted a quarantine, and soldiers shoot anybody who attempts to leave. Humans are rioting outside the churches, and throwing their rosaries back at the Brothers.
Silus discovers Edgar's location is Jamestown's water source. Edgar is dripping his blood into the water supply, infecting all of Jamestown. However, each suburb has its own separate water supply. Silus is determined to go in and rescue Lilly, however another cardinal tells him that Jamestown will be burned to the ground to make sure that the virus dies, and Edgar with it. He warns Silus that his own career will be doomed if he ignores the "greater good" and breaches quarantine.
Silus breaks through into Jamestown and heads to the aquifer, dodging the infected. Lilly is handcuffed to a water pipe in a locked basement. Edgar comes in and she tries to persuade him to stop but instead he challenges her about her dead child, saying that her race is good at abandoning children. Edgar finds Silus and they fight. Just as Silus is winning, Edgar throws him backwards onto the prongs of a steam injector. As Silus lies groaning, and possibly dying, on the ground, Edgar approaches with a portable steam injector. When Edgar depresses the trigger steam comes out. Edgar threatens to burn Silus's face off so that he will be more of a monster just like him. Lilly comes up behind Edgar and kills him by stabbing another steam injector into the back of his skull.
Silus escorts Lilly from the water facility. He kisses Lilly and says she must do something. He gestures to a building then tells Lilly she must look after what she will find in there and keep it away from the Brotherhood. Lilly enters the building, and finds the other Brother, a dead woman, and a baby. The Brother tells Lilly the infant is the first female vampire ever born. The virus has created her and she is truly the first Perfect Creature.
Silus is branded a heretic, and must stay in hiding. Meanwhile, Lilly is caring for the baby and Silus is watching over her. The movie ends with Silus saying that he is being hunted but he will always fight back, leaving scope for a second movie. | neo noir, sci-fi | train | wikipedia | In a world not unlike ours in the 50's, the human race has been coexisting for three hundred years with a genetically enhanced breed of vampires called The Brotherhood that lead the church and researches.
Due to the political issue, the church sends Silus (Dougray Scott) to help her, and he discloses that his brother Edgar (Leo Gregory) was infected a couple of weeks ago and killed other women, but the Brotherhood has covered-up the murders to avoid the return of prejudice against their race.
Silus and Lilly succeed to arrest the insane vampire, but when Edgar escapes from the compound, he begins to infect the human race."Perfect Creature" is a surprisingly good, underrated and absolutely original and stylish vampire movie.
The great thing about this film is that we slowly grow to understand the society of this new place, rather than it all being rammed down the viewers throat as is usually the case with alternate realities.
Very good,original vampire action movie ...I'm very impressed.
The world of the film - an alternate world where vampires are like priests who look after humanity and whom humanity respects - is original and feels very solid.
A new, genetically empowered race of human/vampire like creatures has come forth, first despised but finally accepted as protectors of humanity.
Leaving both the new super race and humans alike facing possible extinction.The story has a competent, crazed blood sucking super villain who brings a bit of horrific red carnage to the screen as he threatens to destroy all around him.
It all works.High tension, horror, drama, great sets, atmosphere, very good cast and an original Sci-Fi horror story make this film a fun, rewarding experience.
I rented this movie last night and was blown away.It's a different kind of vampire movie.It reminded me a bit of underworld because of the action not so much the story.I don't know how this movie didn't hit theaters because I would have been there.Or if it did I missed out.Or maybe it was only released in New Zealand and the U.K.If it is a straight to DVD release then it's one of the best ones i've seen.The location in New Zealand was a perfect spot for this movie.It had a very old Gothic look even though it also seemed a bit modern.
It was supposed to be 1969 but seemed more like 1949 by the way people talked and dressed, and the cars looked older then 1969.But then again,it is taking place on a different earth(I read that in an article about the movie),and there is a mention of it at the beginning so it doesn't matter how it appears.
I was impressed with this movie.It has good special effects,original story,lots of action and good acting.I want to buy my own copy of it.Now I'm anticipating a sequel because of how it ended..
The movie looks stunning: with a comparatively tiny budget, writer/director Glen Standring makes good use of computer generated imagery but blends in beautifully with the 'real life' shots.
It's up to his "biological" brother (Dougray Scott) and a cop (Saffron Burrows) to rein him before he gives The Brotherhood a bad rap."Perfect Creature" has a lot going for it.
The interactions between the characters held the possibility of layers of intrigue and backstory which could have led to spin offs into other media.But it plays like a hastily written love story wedged into an interesting world view.
Just when the story seems ready to move into an action sequence, it gets all boring and at the exact moment you expect some deeper relationship exposition, it stumbles onwards to progress the action.The acting is great (even if a number of the actors are regular players on New Zealand TV and film), cinematography and editing is OK but nothing special, and the effects are passable for the budget.
Well that was a surprise what a great film~If you are looking for a moody atmospheric vampire flick you can't get much better than this~Good mix between action suspense and thrills~I liked the style of the film reminded me a little of silence of the lambs for some reason~Slightly dodgy acting in places but this doesn't spoil a fan~g~tastic plot~ oops i've said it twice nowI thought some of the camera work was superb and there are a few funny moments and jumpy moments that are exactly that~.
After reading the plot synopsis here on IMDb, I realized that the lack of film time for the main characters' relationships likely resulted from an effort to include too many of the details of the story.
While not reaching the heights it could have, "PERFECT CREATURE" is certainly an intriguing little film that throws up a lot of fascinating twists on the well-worn vampire genre.The alternate world created (which feels like a mix of OLIVER TWIST and DUNE) is wonderful, and a lot of care and attention has gone into making this environment seem believable and convincing.A capable cast do their best (when was the last time Dougray Scott actually smiled in a film?), bringing an effective melancholy to their characters that the script unfortunately lacks.
If the characters were as well-constructed as the setting, the movie would have had more dramatic impact.At a scant 90 minutes (and I hear it is being chopped down for it's U.S release), writer/director Glenn Standring could have spent more time opening up this eye-popping world and its history.
At least it doesn't make the same mistake as UNDERWORLD, another vampire film that gave us its backstory in 2 minutes, but then still managed to go for a yawn-inducing two hours.PERFECT CREATURE may prove a hard sell, as there is very little in the way of action, gore, and over-the-top CGI set-pieces.
So I grabbed the opportunity to see PERFECT CREATURE that comes up with a new concept: vampires were created in genetic experiments in the Renaissance era.
Written and directed by Glenn Standring, Perfect Creature falls into one of those fantasy, alternate universe timelines where because of genetic engineering and the likes, humans now are living side by side with the more powerful vampires with whom have forged a truce, that is, to never feed on the blood of humans, but instead, get their dosage of plasma through religious rites of sorts.Which serves as an intriguing premises to begin with, except that it had so much going for it, that it failed to capitalize on the wealth of its potential, instead choosing to coast through the expected until a finale made up of standard fare, with too many plot elements than it could handle, with mistrust between the two species of homo sapiens, an influenza virus, and a murderous vampire hell bent on creating havoc by unleashing his own brand of justice to the world.With movies like Underworld and various other genre incarnations that dwell on super- beings, Perfect Creature at best was on par in terms of the visuals, where the filmmakers have created a stunningly looking dark city, which seemed like a cross between Victorian England, except for the vehicles such as zeppelins which crowd the sky.
Special effects was rudimentary, and you can feel the lack of slickness in the movements of the vampires, not so much as they couldn't fly, but their essence of speed wasn't properly brought across, and looked quite clunky.The story, bared down to the basics, is about how human detective Lilly (Saffron Burrows) has to team up with a high ranking vampire / priest (yes, you read that right) called Brother Silus (Dougray Scott, who walks really stiff here and nary breaks into a smile), despite her and her team's discrimination against the vampire race.
And their common adversary Edgar (Leo Gregory) happens to be a researcher of sorts gone renegade, and with blood relations to Silus, puts a dampener on so called conflict of interest.As an action-fantasy piece, don't expect any award winning acting here, because what thrills are the set action pieces in claustrophobic spaces within dark and dank apartment blocks.
And of course something tells you it's not quite right when the mid-point action sequence trounces the finale which had a distinct lack of excitement.But on the whole, for its mood, settings, and imaginative spin on the vampire genre, Perfect Creature does deserve a watch..
All this in a parallel universe where vampires live together with humans and the world is powered by steam and plagued by genetically designed viruses.Interesting premise and cute universe, but the story itself is dragging like there's no tomorrow (in both universes).
poorly executed.Perfect creature is a clear example of a reasonable that generates a sub par script (I'm thinking shortland street which is New Zealand's stock doctor soap which has been meandering across our airwaves thrilling pubescent girls with ever worsening for the last fifteen years) and not enough money to cover even that as a result the effects are TV quality at best, the acting is slow paced and wooden and the general tone is New Zealand morbid ie there is no emotion other than general peevishness and....Ahhh I grow weary.I've already given it more time than it deserves..
I watched Perfect Creature today, the newest vampire movie right out of Australia.
Yes, in a way it is quite interesting and beyond the usual standard vampire movie stuff.Ah let me explain, first of all it is driven by an alternate reality.
It's different.It's futuristic and Gothic - with a 1930's style to it.It's a nice change from the normal Hollywood overdone blood gore fest that is a huge bore.This was fresh, with a story behind it and one that may follow.It's nice to see characters who don't all look like surfers, models or Tom Cruise/ Bradd Pitt wannabe's.It's got a cool story, good scenes and setting and the period and props relating to it was really cool.This is one of the few vampire movies that I enjoyed.While it is not at the top of my favorite films, it certainly isn't at the bottom.I would have liked to see more action and fight scenes and that would have made this much better, but it was still cool..
Seemingly terrible films get high reviews whilst original and entertaining films are slated to suffer the indignity of being classed in the same vein as their awful bedfellows.Perfect Creature is a film I've re-watched several times over and over because the story is just so very interesting.
But Silos knows that he must keep it together and stop Edgar from destroying the relationships between man and The Brotherhood.Perfect Creature isn't paced well at all and could have been just a little more exciting.
I actually went into this film with fairly high hopes, in spite of the fact that there hasn't been a really decent vampire movie in ages, and naturally came out disappointed.
Given its mediocre reviews and ratings, I was not expecting much from "Perfect Creature." However, I found the film to be liberating in light of common vampire representations.
Though the film does maintain certain Vampire lore like rapid healing and increased senses, their role in the world is fascinating, representing the major religion of human society.The merit of the writing lies in this concept that is, sadly, explored very little.
Where most vampire tales will feature the latter, in which a 'champion' of sorts arises from a terrorized society to overcome, the setting of "Perfect Creature" lies in the coexistence between humans and The Brotherhood where both support the other.
But if it had been managed a little better, and made a little longer, then this could have been a real success.As it is, you should watch "Perfect Creature" just for the exercise of the imagination on how vampires in a human world could be received..
PERFECT CREATURE is yet ANOTHER film about a future society where vampires co-exist with mankind in their own society.
Unfortunately, as often occurs in horror films, something goes wrong and the scientist vampire is infected.The lovely Saffron Burrows (Troy, The Galíndez File) is a cop who joins with the brother of the scientist (Dougray Scott), himself destined to lead the Church, to find the infected Vampire.Seems easy enough, but there is more to the story and that is what makes it interesting and makes for some enjoyable Vampire horror..
When a rogue vampire escapes from his detention quarters and starts to unleash a virus on the population that proves fatal to it's recipients, a police officer and a fellow vampire track him down before he spreads it to others.This was a really, really bad effort, more so in the sense that it never really feels like a true horror film, more like a deranged sci-fi film rather as the setting (this is said to be a futuristic time that looks for all the world like 1800's England) and all these ground-rules about the society make it really difficult to get a handle on what's going on.
Normally, he's a good enough actor to look as though he has command of a role but this character completely misses any kind of strong interpretation.On the other hand, LEO GREGORY does a fine, snarling job (he can scowl like nobody else I've seen), a more vicious specimen than his brother.
My blood will change the world."An evolved genetically enhanced race of homo-sapiens("vampires")titled "The Brotherhood" have lived in harmony with humans serving them faithfully for centuries until a rebellious rogue member, Edgar(Leo Gregory), responsible for creating an anti-virus towards the dangerous outbreak of influenza which took many lives, decides he's tired of being a servant towards those he deems inferior.
His brother Silus(Dougray Scott, mostly emotionless and stoic, tilting his head slightly towards an action or something of human nature that fascinates him)is to be a leader of The Brotherhood one day, but Edgar's goal is to infect him with the influenza virus.
The major story is somewhat a "film-noir"esque murder mystery with subplots of epidemics / human evolution / love.The film stars off well enough by giving us a background on the "brotherhood" ( vampires ) and how they are trying to coexist with humans which is interesting in itself but never really develops into anything concrete.Then we are introduced to our main villain( Leo Gregory ) and our protagonist ( Dougray Scott ) with a very well done bit of cinematography.
Not very original nor interesting which is too bad because the performances were pretty good and the actors did a fine job but the sub par character development kept it from being really gripping.The mother ( Saffron Burrows ) / daughter development seemed like an afterthought to appeal to the "Children of Men" fans.
The love story between the vampire ( Dougray Scott ) and the human ( Saffron Burrows ) was completely unnecessary.The whole movie seemed like it started off original and could have taken many different genres to a new level and then someone ran out of steam and just picked away at some more popular movies from this genre causing a big mish mash of unfinished plot lines.Anyway these are my two cents..
Fox apparently didn't know how to market the film, and after sitting on the shelf for two years, it quietly crept out as a direct-to-DVD release.Perfect Creature is set in an alternative reality where (compared to our world) branches of science and engineering have experienced different rates of progress.
Eventually however the information gets out, and Silas (who is being groomed to lead The Brotherhood one day) forms an alliance with a human detective (Saffron Burrows) to catch the murderer.Perfect Creature is an intelligent and entertaining film, but Fox's wariness about how to promote it was probably due to the fact that it contains few surprises and not much actually happens per se.
A new slant on the good vs evil story.Saffron Burrows excels as a Policewoman doing an excellent job catching the day to day bad guys let alone what she needs to do to survive Edgars charming ways.
A race of genetically enhanced vampires called the Brotherhood has peacefully coexisted with human beings for 300 years.
Crazed renegade vampire Brother Edgar (superbly played with frightening intensity Leo Gregory) starts preying on human beings and plans on changing the natural order of things by infecting everyone with a lethal mutant virus.
It's up to dour, compassionate vampire Brother Silus (a fine portrayal by Dougray Scott) and tough, but kind-hearted human police captain Lilly (a splendidly hard-nosed performance by Saffron Burrows) to stop Edgar before it's too late.
Perfect Creature centers on a world where vampires and human beings co-exist.
The vampires form the Brotherhood, which is basically the Catholic Church, and humans look to them for protection.
...In one shot Dougray Scott in outline looks exactly like the vampire in 'Nosferatu'--the shot and the cut of his frock-coat had to have been taken from that film..
In that way, Dougray Scott completely fits the role by keeping Silus' face completely stony, whether he's ogling the policewoman Lilly or beating up his little vampire brother Edgar.
Perfect Creature is set in a city called Jamestown where a brotherhood of Vampires live alongside humans in supposed harmony, it has been this way for 300 years but one brother Edgar (Leo Gregory) has developed a taste for human blood & has been feasting on local young ladies while his brother Silus (Dougray Scott) hunts him.
Jamestown is quarantined & the authorities feel complete extermination of everyone within it is the only answer including thousands of innocent uninfected humans...This New Zealand & British co-production was directed by Glenn Standring & is a sort of moody atmospheric Vampire horror thriller that had the potential to be great but a lack of focus & a general pedestrainism means I would struggle to even call perfect creature average let alone good.
The acting is alright but no-one seems to show much interest & with such thin character's one can hardly blame them.Perfect Creature is average at best, a Vampire horror thriller than could have been great if a bit more time had been spent on the script & a decent story that meant something. |
tt0015324 | Sherlock Jr. | Sherlock Jr. starts with a proverb: "Don't try to do two things at once and expect to do justice to both." The projectionist/Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton) sits at the back of an empty movie theater with his broom, reading "How to Be a Detective." He has the required equipment: a moustache disguise and a magnifying glass. He is chided by his boss to complete his chores first. So he begins to work, but not before day-dreaming about his love interest, The Girl (Kathryn McGuire). Before sweeping the mess in front of the theater, the projectionist walks to the confectionery next door. There is a box of candies that costs a dollar, and a bigger one that costs three dollars. He only has two dollars. Shrugging, he returns to his work.In front of the theater, a particularly sticky piece of paper sticks to his broom. As he tries to shake it off, he steps on the paper. He tries to shake the paper loose of his foot, but no luck - he grabs it. The paper sticks to his hands, etc. He hears his boss leaving, so he holds the paper on the floor, until his boss steps on it, and relieves him of the problem. We are then introduced to the local Sheik (Ward Crane) - the town shyster. He glances at the candy, but has no money. In the trash pile, the projectionist finds a dollar. He puts on his coat, ready to purchase the three dollar box of candy, until a young woman arrives, searching through the trash for a dollar she lost. The projectionist gives her back the dollar. As he begins to put away his jacket, an elderly woman begins digging through the trash - she has lost a dollar also. The projectionist generously gives her one of his dollars. Finally a hairy giant arrives on the scene. The projectionist offers him a dollar immediately. The giant refuses and begins to dig through the trash, spotting a wallet with a wad of cash. Shrugging, the projectionist takes the crumpled dollar to buy the box of candy.As he walks to the girl's house. He uses a pencil to change the price tag on the box of candy from one dollar to four. He is invited in the house, and presents the gift (and the price tag) to the girl. The Sheik enters and surveys this scene. He takes a watch out of a coat pocket. The projectionist takes out a ring and gives her the tiniest ring - he also gives her his magnifying glass to look at the ring. They awkwardly hold hands. Meanwhile, the Sheik pawns the watch and purchases the three dollar box of candy. The Sheik enters the parlor with the big candy box, and takes the girl to the dining room to examine the candy, closing the curtains behind him.
When the projectionist intrudes in the dining room, the Sheik hands him a banana and directs him back to the parlor. The projectionist peels the banana and leaves the peel on the floor, calling the Sheik back to the parlor. The Sheik stops just short of stepping on it. As the projectionist gets up to call the Sheik back, he slips on his own peel.When the girl's father returns, he discovers that his watch is missing. Not to fear, though, the projectionist has his detectives manual. As he reads the first rule (Search Everyone) the Sheik peers over his shoulder, and slips the pawnbroker receipt into the projectionist's pocket. After searching everyone, the projectionist is searched and kicked out of the house after it is discovered that he has the receipt (to make matters worse, the four dollar payment is the same "price" as his box of candy). The girl also returns the engagement ring.As the Sheik exits confidently, the projectionist reads the next step in his detective book, which says, "Shadow your man closely." The projectionist takes this advice quite literally, and trails right behind him, step for step, to a train station. When the Sheik notices he has been followed, the projectionist casually walks into an open refrigerator car. The Sheik locks him in. As the projectionist peeks out of the top of the rail car, the train begins to move. The projectionist runs along the top of the train cars like a treadmill, finally grabbing a water spout, which gently lowers him. But he grabs the valve handle, spilling water all over him as he falls to the ground (it is in this famous scene, where Keaton in real life, breaks his neck). The water interrupts a passing handcar, causing two men pumping it to chase the projectionist. Meanwhile, the girl goes to the pawn shop and the pawn broker points out the Sheik as the man who pawned the watch. The happy girl runs to find her paramour.The projection screens a film called "Hearts and Pearls." He falls asleep at the projector, and his "double" from his dream state exits his resting body to watch the film. The main characters of the movie, two aristocrats, turn into the girl and the Sheik.The projectionist in his dream state approaches the screen of the film, and jumps into the picture. As he jumps into the scene, he is confronted by the door of an aristocratic house. As he begins to leave, the scene switches, and the steps of the door change to a short pedestal by a garden wall. The scene changes to busy street, to mountain top, to a jungle of lions, to a desert grave, to a rock in the ocean, to a snowy hilltop, and finally back to the garden wall, forcing the projectionist to adjust to each new environment.The film shifts back to one of the aristocrats (the girl's father) finding that someone has robbed his vault of his pearls. Indeed, it was the Sheik whose co-conspirator is the butler (Erwin Connelly). The father calls Sherlock Jr. (The Projectionist). The nervous Sheik asks the Butler how to foil the the wiles of Sherlock Jr. The Butler has a number of booby traps to destroy Sherlock Jr. He has an exploding billiard ball (number 13) on the pool table. There is also a chair that would have an axe kill the occupant when weight is applied.A gloved hand rings the doorbell, and it is dapper Sherlock Jr. dressed in a top hat, cane, and tails. After he examines the empty vault, he dusts the trick chair, but doesn't sit on it. The Butler sneaks some poison in a shot glass, which Sherlock Jr. almost drinks, but politely hands to the Sheik. The Sheik almost doesn't catch the Butler's frantic pleas not to drink. The Sheik and Sherlock Jr. begin to play pool, and Junior almost knocks the butler into the chair with the end of his pool cue.Sherlock Jr. breaks the rack, and as he begins to play, the Sheik and the butler take cover in the parlor. He has multiple close calls around ball number thirteen, but amazingly remains untouched. When he scratches the cue ball, the Sheik is allowed one more opportunity. The Sheik misses, and Sherlock Jr. aims straight for ball number thirteen, and he... knocks it in the pocket with no effect. The Sheik and the butler are dumbfounded, as Sherlock Jr. puts the cue down and walks away. As the clueless villains try to assess what had just happened (almost swallowing the poison shot, and triggering the seat trap) they discover that the exploding ball has been taken.Sherlock Jr. prepares to tail the Sheik, when we are introduced to Sherlock Jr.'s assistant, Gillette. The detective follows the Sheik to the top of a building, where the Sheik locks him on the roof, and then returns to his convertible, parked next to the tall building. Before the Sheik can drive off, Sherlock Jr. grabs the railroad crossing gate, which conveniently deposits him into the back seat of the Sheik's convertible. The Sheik gets to his hideout, with Sherlock Jr. hiding in the back seat. Gillette had hitched a ride on the back of the Sheik's convertible as well, and gives Sherlock Jr. a gun, and a paper drum full of women's clothing. Sherlock Jr. places the paper drum on the window sill. He is then captured by three of the Sheiks men and interrogated in the cabin. They reveal that the butler has kidnapped the girl, and that the Sheik will marry her. Sherlock Jr. is able to escape, grabbing the pearls and jumping through the window (and the paper drum). He is now dressed in a woman's wardrobe, and as the Sheik's henchmen look around, the detective is nowhere to be seen.One of the men begins to suspect the woman, and makes chase. The thugs trap Sherlock Jr. in an alleyway, but he is able to trick them with the help of Gillette and a trap door. As Sherlock Jr. runs into the street with the henchmen chasing him, a motorcycle courier who turns out to be Gillette pulls alongside him. Sherlock Jr. gets on top of the handlebars, while Gillette drives. The Sheik pulls up in his car, and begin to make chase. A bump knocks Gillette off, leaving Sherlock Jr. on a seemingly possessed motorcycle, oblivious to the fact that no one is driving him.Sherlock Jr.'s bike encounters, ditch diggers, a tug-o-war, a bridge with a gap in it and a collapsing end section, a downed tree dynamited out of the way, and a train, miraculously without breaking stride - that is, until Sherlock Jr. realizes that no one is driving the motorcycle.At the cabin, the butler has sinister schemes for the young girl, until the motorcycle crashes, propelling Sherlock Jr. feet first through a window and into the butler's chest, knocking the wind out of the villain. The Sheik's men arrive at the cabin, but Sherlock Jr. and the girl escape through the window and take the Sheik's car. The Sheik and his henchmen take the butler's car, and begin to fire at Sherlock Jr. The detective takes out the exploding billiard ball, and hurls it into the Sheiks car, which explodes.The four wheel brakes stop Sherlock Jr.'s car before they hit the lake, but the body of the car is not secured to the frame, and it hurtles into the lake like a boat. Sherlock Jr. puts up the convertible top to use as a sail, and returns the pearls to the girl. The car/boat abruptly sinks.The projectionist wakes up from this exciting dream to see the girl in his projection booth. She apologizes for her accusations, and the projectionist watches the movie to see how to close this deal. When the actor in the film takes the actress's hand, the projectionist takes the girl's hand. When the actor in the film gives the actress a ring, the projectionist gives the girl a ring. Then the actor kisses the actress on the lips - the film fades out and fades in to show the actor and actress with twins. This turn of events leaves the projectionist scratching his head, as he wonders how he can replicate the film's end. | absurd, psychedelic, humor, satire | train | imdb | What's so remarkable is not so much any particularly hilarious gag or gags, as the never-ending stream of amazing and entertaining sights - coming faster and faster as the film proceeds - that seem so off-hand and effortlessly inventive, but that must have involved many hours of painstaking work to perfect.
reality theme is also highly suggestive, and makes this great movie one of the most completely satisfying efforts by Keaton or anyone else.The film opens slowly and allows the pace to build gradually.
Not only is this Buster Keaton's best film, but it is among the greatest achievements in the history of cinema, period.
That is what I love about Buster, the fact he did his own stunts shows that he was a great believer in producing a film that was genuine, that didnt try to trick or fool it's audience.I find it sad that today most people seem to think that comedy is about dialouge and punch lines, when it is clear from film master pieces such as Sherlock Jr. that this is not true.
Silent movies are not to be ignored just because they are 'old', when I watch many of them they feel as fresh as any new comedy - if not more so.So thank-you Buster!.
Her father is played by Buster's father Joe Keaton, who would appear in many of his son's films.There's a mustachioed cad with slick hair and a sharp suit who is after the girl, a cartoon baddie who the audience instinctively knows deserves a hiss and not a cheer.It is in Junior's other job as a cinema projectionist that the film comes alive.
In a sequence of great inventiveness, we see the film within a film changing scenes and watch with delight as the character adapts to each situation and surrounding.Sherlock Jr is very funny but is also unusual and, in comparison with other comedies of the period, ahead of its time.
It includes some excellent stunts that are the equal of anything done by Harold Lloyd in the same period, and, although it has a very short running time, manages to develop a good storyline throughout.Justly feted as a masterpiece of silent comedy, Sherlock Jr represented one of the peaks of Buster Keaton's cinematic career.
Oddly enough I watched Sherlock jr only this afternoon, after so many viewings it still amazes me how far ahead of his time Buster Keaton was, often copied, rarely equalled never surpassed.
So if you are like that do yourself a favour, get hold of a copy of this movie and enjoy, it shocks me that films such as 'Something about Mary' are rated higher than this masterpiece of comedy, there is nothing wrong with 'SaM' even I laughed at it, but, watching it once was enough, however I watch Sherlock jr again and again in pure amazement at Buster Keaton and his cameraman, Elgin Lessley's achievements without the aid of modern technology, like most other's the scene where he dives through a window to reappear as a little old lady gobsmacks me, how did he do it?
There ought to be a theater that shows nothing but perfectly preserved prints of the silent comedies of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Harry Langdon.
But anyone who thinks that silent film is nothing more than a crude and unskilled ancestor of today's motion picture need only spend some time on these great comedies to realize that, in this genre at least, the peak was reached in the 20s.
And the best of his movies is Sherlock, Jr. The dream sequence in which he becomes an actor in the film he's projecting is astonishing; the way in which this movie is a sort of window into a different and appealing age is charming--and the ending of this movie takes the breath away.
Buster Keaton's a film genius for making a movie like this..
Sherlock, Jr. arguably exceeds The General as Buster Keaton's greatest achievement -- it is certainly more magical in its use of extraordinary special effects and unconventionally humorous situations.
Keaton's brilliant structuring of the story -- a fantastic treat for audiences when his pathetic projectionist becomes the genius detective through a literal entering of the movie screen -- has been imitated dozens of times, but I always come back to this unsurpassable rendering.
Watching Keaton play the scene where he studies how to go about kissing his best girl by peeking at a movie version of the same event always reduces me to simultaneous jags of tears and laughter..
Not only is it clever and fast and well done, it's short (well under an hour) so you won't have to panic.Buster Keaton is one of the big three silent film comedians (along with Chaplin and Lloyd).
He is sending for the world's greatest detective - Sherlock Jr.!"After watching several of Chaplin's classic films, I decided it was time to give Buster Keaton an opportunity beginning with one of his most revered movies, Sherlock Jr. Keaton and Chaplin dominated the silent movie era, but most people are divisive as to who was the most talented actor-director of that time.
I can see how Buster Keaton garners recognition for his magical work in this film, being one of the first to actually incorporate dream sequences into his movie.
Many other films (and especially cartoons) were inspired from several scenes in Sherlock Jr, like the one in which Keaton's character jumps into a movie screen and becomes a character in the movie that is being projected (better known as "the movie within a movie" sequence).
In his dreams, he becomes the hero of the film and the adventure begins.Buster Keaton's film has some brilliant and magical sequences, and I think it is a bit unfair to compare him with Chaplin because he has a very different style.
As performers they both have different styles, Chaplin uses a lot of physical comedy while Keaton uses deadpan humor and incorporates a lot of action scenes doing some risky stunts (in the train sequence he actually fractured his neck).
Depending on which style you like best, you will probably claim Keaton or Chaplin is better, but it would be unfair to say one is less talented than the other because they both proved to be geniuses during the silent era and have left us with a rich legacy.
There are little bits like that, and then those huge scenes of choreographed mayhem: a blast by water after hanging off of a moving train, a chase through a town that includes a sudden chance of a road connected, jumps through small holes and windows at the nick of time that are half pure Keaton and half exciting editing.And then Keaton himself, usually a little guy looking shy and quiet and a dreamer in the greatest cinematic sense (this was one of the first, if not the first, films to have a character go into a movie-world right through the screen), and he's always incredibly subtle but not ever lacking appropriate comic timing.
Only this time, in such a short running time for a feature (it's just a few minutes short of being a short film), Keaton crams as much as he can to perfect effect.Sherlock Jr should be seen by just about anyone looking for a great example of pure silent-comedy hijinks and stunt work; what Jackie Chan might be for martial arts Buster Keaton is to a crazy pratfall, and you often can't entirely believe it's the guy on screen doing what's being done.
And it's also, alongside Steamboat Bill Jr and The General, examples of how Keaton could be an exemplary filmmaker, someone who took film technique and shook it up just a bit (if, admittedly, more-so than Chaplin as just director if not quite as a star), while sticking faithfully to comedy and heart-tugging moments.
The brilliance and originality of visual gags throughout Sherlock Jr. make it one of Keaton's very best feature films alongside The Cameraman and Seven Chances.Buster finds himself adrift "Three-and-a-half miles higher than a kite" in The Balloonatic.
This film had some great scenes like the dream sequence however the slapstick routine at the beginning of it just seemed out of place.
Lots of little pointless special effects going on too, like at the beginning of the dream sequence when he walks into the movie and the scenery keeps changing on him.
Keaton shows that great film artistry can be achieved with rudimentary technology.Sherlock Jr. will remain on a list of "must watch" film classics as long as people are still watching movies..
Buster Keaton, as he does in every film, has three or four sight gags that are so shocking and startling that you'll be rolling on the floor with laughter (I particularly liked the "dive through the barn window" - I won't give it away, but it's insanely hilarious).
My favorite film second only to "Annie Hall." "Sherlock, Jr." is Buster Keaton's masterpiece.
The technical special effects teams assembled for today's movies couldn't possibly capture the nuances or spirit of Keaton's truly astounding stunts all performed with a precision that would shame a brain-surgeon.There was never a greater artist working in silent film than Keaton and it is to the AFI's ever-lasting shame that none of his films (but especially this one) were named to their so-called 100 Greatest Films list.
And of course Buster Keaton, who didn't transition as well or smoothly into the sound era (whereas Chaplin made some of his best work in it) but when he was in his prime there was nobody back then, when it came to comedy, more daring in terms of the jaw-dropping stunt-work, or who was able to make deadpan funny and expressive, and actually it is still like that now.
Keaton wasn't nicknamed "The Great Stone Face" for nothing, and in my mind he was every bit as funny and easy to like as Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy, while also being a bigger risk taker, having bolder material physically and his films being technically in his prime period superior.
The direction keeps things moving with control, progressing gradually and always assuredly, and balances everything beautifully.When it comes to the humour, 'Sherlock Jr' is one of Keaton's funniest and most inventive, chockful of hilarious moments timed to absolute perfection.
Also found myself surprisingly educated, which makes this film one of Keaton's more interesting films, in learning the trade tricks in editing and effects and some of the most genius use of back projection (often done cheaply and obviously, but inventively done here).Like 'The General' and 'Steamboat Bill, Jr' it is really great to have a story with brains, heart and logic, treating the audience with respect and there is never any trouble following it.
phenomenal; to name a few, I mean Buster was an incredibly talented performer, you could even say he was a magician, for the work he did on this film feels ethereal, dream-like and magical, even though it is essentially
Buster Keaton playing the role of the movie projectionist Sherlock Jr. was very entertaining.
While there are a few points in the movie that are disjointed and not as fun, overall you can stay engrossed enough until you get to some really cool and innovative special effects, which given the technological limitations when this was filmed in the 1920's are simply amazing..
In Sherlock, Jr., Buster Keaton plays a movie theater projectionist and a janitor who is also studying to be a detective at the same time.
After the first 15 minutes, Buster Keaton falls asleep while at his projectionist job and he begins to dream that he has become the "greatest" detective in the movie he was projecting.
One of the funniest films of the silent era and my personal favorite Buster Keaton film, Sherlock Jr. is an outstanding work of imagination, slapstick humor & technical craftsmanship by Buster Keaton.
One of the greatest silent films of all time, Sherlock Jr. is, in my opinion, Buster Keaton's finest work..
After watching The General, I couldn't wait to get my hands on another Buster Keaton film.
Minute for minute, Sherlock Jr. packs in just as many stunts and laughs, all while exploring the boundaries of cinematic creativity.The film follows Keaton as Sherlock Jr., a movie theater projectionist that wants to become a detective.
The scene where Keaton enters a movie screen and interacts with the things inside of it is simply incredible (not to mention hilarious), even by today standards.
when buster was at his best as he was in "sherlock jr", his films were a work of art.
Buster Keaton acquires amazing special effects for a 1924 movie.
Overall, I don't enjoy silent movies often but this one was short and sweet and had me laughing more times than I could count..
This short silent film is in my opinion Buster Keaton's best work and also very funny, showing off his great physical comedy skills.
In my opinion Sherlock Jr. is a prefect movie for those today, with most block busters today in the hour and a half to two hour range its harder to allot that time to watch a movie, being only about 45 minuets long and silent it allows the viewer to enjoy his work in a short time and without disrupting others around if you find yourself with out headphones..
I think Buster Keaton is pure genius, the originality of this movie is amazing.
Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. explores the relationship between a man's dreams and reality with comedy intermingled perfectly.
Buster Keaton did a wonderful job with this movie between the comedy and the plot.
Not only is does it star silent film icon Buster Keaton, but it utilizes very imaginative filmmaking during a time when it wouldn't have been necessary.
If you liked Christopher Nolan's Inception, you should know that the idea of a film taking place inside a dream first came from Sherlock, Jr. If you liked Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo, the film-within-a-film technique first came from Sherlock, Jr.Even if you're not interested in the technical aspects, this is still a very fun movie with classic Buster Keaton scenes to keep you entertained every time you watch it.
If you've seen him jump through a wall and disappear-or Donald O'Connor recreate the stunt in The Buster Keaton Story-that famous magic trick is from this film.
Sherlock Jr. is one of those rare silent films that shocked the viewers then as much as it does now, it is an overwhelming experience to watch these characters come alive on screen..
While taking a class on the History of American Cinema I had the opportunity to watch a couple of silent era films, including Sherlock Jr.
I never thought I'd like silent films, but this movie was quite good.
Sherlock Jr. is a silent film about a projectionist who wants to become a detective, then becomes at odds with a local thief who blames him for stealing his girlfriend's fathers watch.
I think this is a good introduction for people like myself who are new to watching silent movies..
Sherlock Jr. is a silent film about a projectionist who wants to become a detective, then finds himself at odds with a local thief who has blamed him for the theft of his girlfriend's fathers watch.
I consider this a good introduction to people like myself who are new to watching silent movies..
A definite watch for someone seeking a "real old time silent film"..
This is definitely one of the most influential movies ever made, from the moving camera to the visual effects (such as the men's "soul" - or something like that - leaving his body), this movie has everything, and man, it's almost 100 years-old!Keaton's performance is really good here, in fact, I believe the whole cast is great, I'm still getting into the silent movies, but I believe they (the cast) were able to pass their emotions the way this type of movies ask for.But again, it's the many new "things" Keaton uses here that make the movie so important, and has so much value until today.
The guy who wants the girl, but can't get it because of the bad guy, but in the end, he beats him, with a lot of action scenes, dream sequences, and with a little bit of lucky.I love the way the movie is shot.
A classic of the Silent Era. A young man works as a projectionist at a movie theatre but dreams of becoming a famous detective.
With a running time of only 45 minutes this movie is among the shorter ones (even for the silent film genre).
Sherlock Jr. wasn't a skilled fighter but rather the kind of fellow who'd run away from a fight, even in his dreams.It's a decent movie but definitely not one of Buster Keaton's best.
"Sherlock Jr." by Buster Keaton was a film revolutionary for its time and still holds up well today in many aspects.
It was surprisingly fast paced and had a lot of cool action way before you think of the more modern action films, Yet the whole dream sequence was very thought provoking and almost like Keaton created a vivid world with its own laws and internally consistent logic.
Buster Keaton Sherlock Jr. entertaining film!.
Buster Keaton's film, Sherlock Jr. is a great film that uses a lot of techniques that make the film interesting and creative.
"Sherlock Jr." is one of many masterpieces made by Buster Keaton and he established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the Art of Silent Comedy.
Sherlock Jr, made in 1924, featuring Buster Keaton became an esteemed film for a reason.
With this being my second time watching a silent film I cannot help but to admit I was amazed yet again.
Sherlock Jr is one of Buster Keaton's better known films, where he plays a projectionist who longs to become a detective.
Out of the few silent movies I have viewed, Sherlock starring Buster Keaton is by far the most advanced. |
tt1279935 | Date Night | Claire (Tina Fey) and Phil Foster (Steve Carell) sleep peacefully in their bedroom, till they're jumped on by their kids, who demand breakfast. During breakfast, Claire gives her daughter a one-two-three warning, and is amazed that it still works. Phil makes the kids' lunches, but he's left all the drawers open, resulting in Claire almost tripping on them. Phil is a New Jersey tax lawyer and Clair is a realtor. When they get back home, they're totally bushed. Katy, their next-door neighbor, drops by to baby-sit the kids, as it's their Date Night. Though neither is really feeling up to it, they go to a restaurant for their date. They have potato skins and salmon (their usual) and watch other couples and analyze their actions, quite comically. Still their date is rather boring and they return home. Phil wants to fool around before sleeping, but Claire's already put in her retainer. He gets grossed out when she removes it and they spend yet another night without sex.The next day, they go to their usual book club at their friends', Brad (Mark Ruffalo) and Haley's (Kristen Wiig), house. They're reading some book about a young Afghan girl who's having her first period and is traumatized or something. Phil doesn't seem all that impressed, but the ladies (Phil and Brad are the only guys there) feel sad for the poor fictitious girl. Brad speaks to Phil and tells him that he and Haley are getting divorced, but keeping it under wraps for their kids. They're like perfect roommates, he says, but that's all. While he's sad about it, Haley is excited and tells Claire that she has all the freedom to whatever she wants (like have sex with three strangers). She advises Claire to "walk among the birds."The next Date Night, Claire dresses up well. When Phil walks in, he's impressed and decides that they're going to Manhattan for dinner. They go to a fancy restaurant, Claw, without a reservation. The snooty Maitre D' tells them that reservations are taken months in advance and asks them to go to the bar and wait for a table. They go to the crowded bar and wait. Claire is all for leaving and going to a less fancy restaurant, but Phil wants her to have something special. Just then, the hostess calls out, "Tripplehorn, party of two." When no one answers after a while, Phil seizes the moment and shouts, "Us!" much to Claire's surprise. They're shown to their table. Claire is a bit unsure about taking someone else's reservation. The prices are crazy expensive. They clink empty wine glasses, even though Claire notes that it's bad luck. As they eat their overpriced but delicious risotto, they analyze other couples at the restaurant. They notice that Will.I.Am is also there, with his companion. Phil tells Claire to go near Will.I.Am and pose, while he takes a goofy picture of her on her cell phone.As they're about to finish, a couple of tough-looking guys - Armstrong (Jimmi Simpson) and Collins (Common) - walk up to their table and address them as the "Tripplehorns." They tell them that they're in trouble. The Fosters think that they've been busted for taking someone else's reservation. Armstrong and Collins escort them outside, where they frisk them and take their IDs and cell phones. Claire and Phil are a bit shocked and ask what this is about. Armstrong pulls out a gun and holds it sideways at Phil, freaking Phil out ("sideways means killshot!"). They tell them that they want the flash drive that they stole from mob boss, Joe Miletto, and are now using as blackmail. As the situation gets tenser, Phil says that he has the flash drive and that it's in Central Park.The four of them go to Central Park (in the Fosters' car) and pull up to a deserted spot. Claire wishes that Phil had chosen a more populated spot. Phil, thinking that night-boating is prevalent in New York, tells them that the drive is in the boathouse. They go to the boathouse and bust inside. Claire tries to act as if Phil's got a condition with his penis and that they need to get back to the car for his medication. Instead, he tells her to "get the flash drive". He directs her to a dark corner of the boathouse. As the two gunmen and Claire look for it, Phil seizes an oar and knocks the two gunmen out and runs out with Claire. They jump onto a boat and Phil guns the engine as hard as he can... only to find that they've chosen the slowest boat in New York! As they inch closer to the other bank, the two gunmen open fire at them. Phil and Claire duck into the boat, to evade the bullets. When they (finally) get to the other side, they hold the boat upside-down on their heads as protection and run blindly through the woods, screaming bloody murder. Bumping into a tree, they drop the boat and climb up a wall and emerge into a crowded place. The hoods, however, lose them and are livid. Phil throws up quite a bit.They go to the police station where they speak to Detective Arroyo (Taraji P. Henson) about their ordeal, mentioning Joe Miletto. When she hears that they took someone else's reservation, she's a bit disgusted. As they speak, Claire notices the two gunmen have entered the place - they're cops, for crying out loud! She hints to the still-unaware Phil that they have to "go visit their gay friends for dinner." When he sees them, they duck down, much to Arroyo's bemusement. They start rambling about having to go, but Arroyo sternly tells them to stay put. The bad cops notice them. Just then, Arroyo is called outside by her partner, Detective Walsh. The Fosters take to their heels and run out. Outside the station, they both start freaking out, realizing that Joe Miletto has cops in his pocket and that they can't trust anyone. Claire wants to go home, but Phil tells her that the bad cops have their IDs and will know where they live. Scared about their kids' well-being, they call Katy from a payphone, and tell her to stay longer and get the kids out of the house. They have to promise to pay Katy a lot more, before they notice the bad cops coming and run. Claire asks what a flash drive is and, after Phil explains, says that she calls it a "computer sticky thing".They're on the run and scared. Claire asks what they're going to do. Phil says that they have to find the real Tripplehorns, as they'll have the flash drive. To do that though, they'll have to go back to Claw again. They act as a pair of snooty glitterati-types (Phil wears his jacket on backwards) and speak to the hostess (who gave them their table). He acts like he knows Will.I.Am and that he left his cell phone at Will's table. He goes to the table with the hostess, while Claire finds out the Tripplehorns' number in the reservation register and writes it down. When they leave (after running into the hard glass door of Claw), Claire tells Phil that one of her clients (a private eye or something) will be able to help them track down that number. First she needs to break into her realty office and find his address. After breaking in, they look around, as the alarm blares. Claire finds the address for Grant Holbrooke. She hits her knee on a drawer left open by Phil. They escape before the security can show up.Detectives Arroyo and Walsh visit Joe Miletto (Ray Liotta) at one of his clubs and ask him what his beef is with the Fosters. He feigns ignorance and tells them to get out and not come back without a warrant. After they leave, he calls up Collins and asks if they have a problem.Meanwhile, the Fosters go to Holbrooke's place. They buzz his apartment. After Claire reintroduces herself, he buzzes them in. As they climb up, Phil is impressed that Claire can remember her clients so well. When the door opens, he sees why. There stands Grant Holbrooke (Mark Wahlberg), shirtless, muscles bulging everywhere. Phil is understandably not too happy, while Claire is understandably extremely happy to be there. When they tell him their full story, he agrees to help them find the Tripplehorns. They give him the phone number. Holbrooke's oh-so-hot Israeli girlfriend comes inside and (in broken English) asks if they're here to have sex with them. When they say no, she's relieved, telling Holbrooke in Hebrew that "they look old and weak."Meanwhile, a detective informs Arroyo about the break-in at Claire's realty office and that they were looking for a Grant Holbrooke's address. The bad cops, Armstrong and Collins, hear this and butt in, asking about the Fosters. Arroyo, smelling something rotten about the dirty cops, blows them off. The bad cops "leave for the day."Holbrooke takes the Fosters into his office, where he's got quite an awesome computer set-up with Minority Report-style monitors. Using some high tech satellite tracking and stuff, he manages to find out about the Tripplehorns. The cell phone is registered to Tom Felton. He gives them the address. Just then, the bad cops buzz the apartment. Claire freaks out a bit, but Holbrooke tells them to go out from his garage. As they wait for the cops to enter the building, they steal one of Holbrooke's expensive sports cars and drive off. As they drive, Phil wants to know why she was so flirty and charming with Holbrooke. Why can't she light up for him the same way? Claire gets mad and tells him that she goes through a horrible day every day in the office and at home. Phil says that Claire never lets Phil do anything, because she's afraid he'll mess up. She brings up his leaving drawers open and the number of times she's hurt herself as a result. She tells him that sometimes she dreams of being alone for a day. They calm a bit and talk about Brad and Haley, how's they're like "perfect roommates" and how they don't want to end up like them.They drive over to the Feltons' place. They buzz the apartment, but they get no answer. Phil decides to go up using the fire escape. When they climb up to the apartment, they see the place is quite a dump. As they quietly go through the place, Claire bumps into a stack of VHS tapes, causing them to fall on her, making a loud noise. The Feltons enter from the adjoining room and rush the Fosters. Phil pulls out an antique gun (which he stole from Holbrooke's apartment) and orders them to sit and answer his questions. The Feltons are Tom "Taste" Felton (James Franco) and Whippit (Mila Kunis). They trade insults with the Fosters for a bit, though Phil isn't exactly great at it, and then quarrel between themselves. As the Feltons squabble, the Fosters realize that their lives are not all that different. Phil asks about the flash drive that they stole. He says that the bad cops are after them. On hearing this, Taste gives Phil the flash drive, telling him that since Miletto thinks they're the Tripplehorns, they can return it themselves. He tells Whippit to start packing as they've practiced. After a long kiss, the Feltons leave via the fire escape, leaving the thoroughly bewildered Fosters behind. The Fosters leave.Detectives Arroyo and Walsh go to Holbrooke's place to question him about the Fosters. He tells them that he's already spoken to the other cops and that they should ask them. Arroyo asks about these "other cops."Just as the Fosters get into Holbrooke's sportscar, they're fired upon by Armstrong and Collins. As they race down a one-way street, they collide into a taxi head-on. Now the two cars are stuck together. They try reversing, but to no avail. With the bad cops on their tail, Phil is forced to drive forward, taking the taxi and the terrified driver along for the ride. As they drive, Phil tells Claire to take the wheel and climbs through the open windshield into the taxi, to stop the cabbie from pushing down on the brakes. He asks if the cabbie has a laptop or something to read the flash drive on. The cabbie has a Kindle. When Phil turns it on, he notices the same book that the book club was reading, about the Afghan menstruation thing ("Really?"). He looks at the drive's contents on the Kindle and sees pornographic photos of DA Frank Crenshaw on it. He's a DA who says he wants to clean up the streets and actually carries a broom around. Now they're being chased by other police cruisers as well as by the dirty cops. Phil tells Claire to turn. She does, causing her to go in reverse while pulling the taxi. As they turn, they find that the road is blocked by cops and cruisers. The cabbie takes charge and tells Claire to stop inches away from the cruisers and accelerate forward. They escape the cops, as the other moving cruisers and the dirty cops' car crashes into the blockade. As they celebrate their escape, they get jackknifed by an SUV, that finally separates them. Claire manages to stop the sports car, but the taxi's brakes are shot. The cabbie bails and Phil and the cab splash into the river. He manages to swim back ashore, but the flash drive is gone.Detective Arroyo arrives at the scene of the cruiser pile-up and enquires why Armstrong and Collins are there. They give her a story, but she doesn't seem to buy it. She tells them to leave.The Fosters take the subway. Phil is wearing Holbrooke's tracksuit (which he got from the smashed-up sportscar). Claire asks what was on the flash drive. Phil says that it was a ledger about DA Frank Crenshaw and his activities with prostitutes in the Peppermint Hippo Bar. They realize that the Feltons were not blackmailing Joe Miletto, but the district attorney, and those dirty cops are working for him. With nowhere else to turn, they return to Holbrooke's house, where he answers the door, again shirtless. They need his help, but he says he's not interested. Phil pleads with him, saying he has a plan. He ends his heartfelt plea by asking Holbrooke to please, please put on a shirt!The Fosters go to the Peppermint Hippo Bar. They speak to the bouncer outside, acting as pimp (Phil) and hooker (Claire). He lets them in. Claire goes into a ladies changing room and puts on a rather sexy costume. Phil's eyes almost pop out when he sees her. He's impressed and a bit aroused. They go through the raunchy bar and find out that DA Crenshaw's in a private room. Phil gives Claire a pep talk, telling her to "pop that koochie". They go towards the private room and are told to look at the camera. They're both let inside, because Crenshaw wants Phil as well. He's appalled, but Claire gives him the same pep talk, telling him to "swing that pole."Inside, they see DA Crenshaw, sitting in a corner, living it up with three hookers at his side. He sees them and says he likes Claire and Phil also, as he thinks he's androgynous. He tells them to dance on a pole. The Fosters do a rather vanilla dance, which the DA doesn't like. So they "spice it up," quite awkwardly and hilariously, but finally the DA starts to like it a lot. After the dance, the DA is interested and asks them how much for a night with Claire. Phil and Claire introduce themselves as "the Tripplehorns." Just then, the dirty cops show up and, holding guns at them, take them to the roof of the bar. Crenshaw tells Phil that if he doesnt hand over the drive immediately, he'll have Claire's arms broken. Phil lies, saying that the drive is with Holbrooke. Collins confirms that Holbrooke is ex-military and the "real deal." Just then, Miletto enters with his goons and also asks about the flash drive. Phil lets slip that the drive contained pornographic pictures of DA Crenshaw. Crenshaw is shocked and confronts Miletto, saying he thought they were ledgers that proved he was corrupt. Miletto tells him that he was protecting him. The situation deteriorates and soon all the bad guys are holding guns at each other, in a Mexican Standoff. Claire starts to freak out, but Phil calms her down, telling her to do the "one-two-three warning." She gets mad and yells at everyone that she's had it and that everybody had better put their guns down before she counts to three. ONE... TWO..... THREE!At the count of three, the cops burst in and soon all bad guys are arrested, without a shot being fired. Detective Arroyo approaches the Fosters and takes them aside. Phil gives her a tape of the incriminating conversations among the bad guys. She has the DA and Miletto arrested on quite a few charges, including prostitution. She asks the Fosters what their story is. Claire tiredly replies that they're just a boring couple that wanted to have a nice quiet dinner. She offers to drop them home, but Phil says that he promised his wife a good meal.They go to a diner, where they eat pancakes. They say they should do this again soon, except without the guns and violence. He tells Claire he'd choose her, 'every time.' Claire smiles and sits next to Phil on his side of the booth. They return home by late morning. At the door, they lay down on the lawn and kiss for a looong time. | comedy, adult comedy, cute, absurd, action, suspenseful, entertaining | train | imdb | null |
tt0085407 | The Dead Zone | In the Maine small town of Castle Rock, school teacher Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken) takes his fiancée sweetheart Sarah (Brooke Adams) to an amusement park. On the roller coaster, he suffers a bad headache and tells her that he must go home to sleep it off. Sarah begs him to stay, but he declines saying: "some things are worth waiting for". As he drives home, a tanker jackknifes in front of him and he plows into it and black out.Johnny wakes up at the Weizak Clinic. His parents Herb and Vera (Sean Sullivan and Jackie Burroughs) are shown in by Dr. Sam Weizak (Herbert Lom). They tell him that he has been in a coma for five years and Sarah has married another man. The distraught Johnny is inconsolable.One day, as a nurse mops his brow he seizers her hand. He has a super-real vision of being trapped in a screaming girl's bedroom. He tells the nurse: "Amy needs your help." The nurse knows that Amy is her daughter's name, but puzzled why Johnny knows her. Johnny tells her that the house is burning, and her daughter is in the house - but it is not too late. The nurse rushes home to find her house in flames, but her daughter is rescued by firefighters just as she arrives home.After a few weeks of physical therapy, Johnny is able to walk again with some difficulty. When Johnny gratefully takes Dr Weizak's hand, he is jolted by another vision. It is wartime with burning buildings, advancing tanks. A protesting young boy is lifted into a horse-drawn cart, leaving his mother behind. Johnny tells Weizak that his mother survived. Weizak says that it is impossible, but Johnny knows her name and address. Weizak checks it out and it's true, but he cannot bring himself to speak to his elderly mother. Weizak comes back and tells Johnny: "you're either in possession of a very new human ability... or a very old one."Sarah comes to visit Johnny. Catching his stare, she asks him not to look at her that way. He says that he can't help it while Sarah says that it's been five years, but Johnny remembers it as yesterday. She says that she now has a five-year-old son, named Denny. Johnny takes it well. She tells him that his power of "second sight" is the talk of the town. Against Weizak's advice, Johnny gives a press conference to defuse the situation. Cynical TV reporter Dardis (Peter Dvorsky) demands a demonstration. Aware that he is being mocked, Johnny takes his hand and says "You wanna know why your sister killed herself?" Taken off guard, Dardis calls Johnny a freak. Johnny's distressed parents watch the event on their TV and his mother collapses. At the hospital, Johnny holds her hand as she dies.Johnny moves in with his father. A few days later, Sheriff Bannerman (Tom Skerritt) pays him a visit for his help to catch a serial killer known as the "Castle Rock killer". Johnny refuses. When Herb tells Johnny that he should use his power he's been blessed with, Johnny becomes furious. He thinks that his power is a curse, not a gift. One day, Sarah brings her son over when Walt (her husband) is out. She puts Denny to bed and says: "haven't we waited long enough?" They finally have sex for the first time in five years.After watching another TV program about the Castle Rock killer, Johnny changes his mind & calls Sheriff Bannerman and agrees to help. Bannerman and Officer Dodd (Nicholas Campbell) take him to the scene of the latest murder, but Johnny gets nothing - he advises Bannerman that in order to get something, he needs a physical article that the killer was in contact with. Bannerman is called to another murder scene at the park bandstand where there is a woman's frozen corpse. Dodd identifies the woman as Alma Frechette. John takes the dead woman's hand and instantly "sees" a man calling to her from the bandstand. "She knows him" says Johnny. He watches helplessly as she is killed with a pair of scissors. The killer is revealed to be Frank Dodd. As Bannerman calls for him, he leaves in his squad car. At Dodd's house, Johnny & Sheriff Bannerman arrive where his mother tries to prevent him from entering. Johnny takes her by the arm and sees that she knew her son was the killer all along and she has been protecting him. Mrs. Dodd calls Johnny a devil, sent from hell, and that her son has been killing all "dirty women" in Castle Rock for their sins at her own encouragement. In an upstairs bathroom, Dodd impales himself on the scissors just as Johnny forces himself into the room. Dodd's equally deranged mother takes his gun and shoots Johnny in his shoulder. Sheriff Bannerman runs in and is forced to shoot and kill her to save Johnny's life.Following this close brush with death, Johnny moves out of town to a remote cabin. His bullet injury eventually heals, but his headaches are getting worse. He takes private tutoring jobs, and he is persuaded by millionaire lumber mill owner Roger Stuart (Anthony Zerbe) to teach his introverted son Chris. Johnny arrives at the Stuart mansion as a loud and abrasive politician named Greg Stillson (Martin Sheen) is leaving. Johnny and Chris get along well, to Stuart's relief. Later, Johnny and Chris watch TV coverage to Stillson's campaign for state senator. Stuart says that Stillson is probably a liar and dangerous.In a local newspaper office, editor Brenner is confronted by Stillson and his henchman/sidekick Sonny who demand that he retract an anti-Stillson editorial in the next edition. Producing photographs of Brenner with a young woman (possibly manufactured), they threaten to "take his head off" if he doesn't do as they say.At one of Johnny's tutoring session with Chris, he gets interrupted by a knock on the front door and it is Sarah whom is a Stillson campaign volunteer bringing him a brochure to vote for Stillson. Another man appears at the door and Sarah introduces him as Walt, her husband. After an uneasy introduction, they leave and Johnny breaks down. As Chris hugs him for comfort, Johnny has another vision of kids in hockey uniforms and falling through the ice of a frozen lake. One of them is Chris. Johnny goes to Stuart and insists he call off the kids' ice hockey practice, or they'll drown. Stuart angrily fires Johnny despite Chris' pleas. The next day at a local news stand, Johnny reads a headline about two boys drowning in a skating accident. He calls Stuart's house, hanging up in relief when Chris answers. Apparently he heeded Johnny's warning not to go play hockey.Meanwhile, Stillson's next rally takes place in a park opposite Johnny's house. Looking for Sarah, Johnny finds himself in Stillson's path. As they shake hands, another vision strikes: at Camp David, President Stillson orders a general to co-authorize an all-out nuclear missile launch against the USSR and the entire world which will bring on Armageddon. The 5-star General, realizing Stillson is a psychopath, refuses, but the maniacal Stillson threatens to 'cut off [the general's hand] and put it on the [scanning screen]'. Reluctantly, the General complies, and the sadistic Stillson tells the Vice President & Secretary of Defence that 'the missiles are flying....Hallelujah! Hallelujah!!'. Horrified, Johnny is rooted to the spot. Stillson is shaken by Johnny's grasp, until Sonny pushes Johnny away.Johnny goes to Dr. Weizak where he asks him that if he could go back in time knowing what he knows, would he kill Adolf Hitler? Weizak answers, 'I would have no choice but to kill the sonofabitch.' He thinks that the "dead zone" in Johnny's visions means that as well as seeing the future, he can also change it.Johnny decides he must take drastic action to stop Greg Stillson before he becomes President of the USA and brings on the end of the world through nuclear war. He packs up his hunting rifle and takes a bus to the Castle Rock Civic Hall, then breaks into the hall where Stillson will appears the next day and lies in wait on the balcony with the rifle. As the hall fills, the charismatic Stillson arrives and invites Sarah and Denny onto the stage with him as he gives his speech. On the balcony, Johnny rises and takes aim. Sarah sees him and screams and as a result the shot misses. As the spectators panic and fleet the hall, the equally panicked Stillson snatches Denny from Sarah and uses him as a shield. Johnny hesitates to fire again, and gets shot by Sonny and other members of the security detail. Johnny falls from the balcony and lands on the floor onto some chairs. What no one else had seen was a young photographer shooting pictures of it all before running out of the hall. Paranoid as always, Stillson walks up and grabs Johnny after recognizing him from a few days ago and demands to tell him who hired him.Johnny grabs Stillson's wrist and has a final vision where he sees a drunken and distraught Stillson in his office where there is a Newsweek magazine on his desk. The front cover shows the photo of Stillson using Denny as a shield with the headline "No Future For Stillson". Beside the Newsweek magazine are other magazines and newspaper headlines with the same photo describing Stillson's despicable act of cowardice. Stillson takes a loaded .45-caliber handgun from his desk drawer, points it at his head, and commits suicide. Johnny smirks at Stillson and weakly says: "It's over. You're finished." Stillson then turns on Sonny Elliman, demanding to know where the photographer is. Sonny replies, disgustedly, 'I didn't seem him!', suggesting that he may be just as disgusted with his boss. Greg Stillson angrily berates Sonny before running out of the hall to hunt for the photographer himself. Sonny follows, leaving the hall empty except for Sarah, Denny & Johnny. As Sarah comes up to Johnny's side, she asks him, 'Why?'. Johnny simply whispers, 'Good-bye'. Sarah starts crying, but as she kneels down next to Johnny & hugs him, she whispers to him, 'I love you....' just before he dies. As Sarah grieves for Johnny, the film fades out & credits begin to scroll across the screen. | mystery, gothic, paranormal, cult, atmospheric, flashback, good versus evil, tragedy, romantic | train | imdb | null |
tt0181739 | Osmosis Jones | Frank Detorre is a widowed slovenly zookeeper at the Sucat Memorial Zoo in Rhode Island. Much to the frustration of his young daughter, Shane , he eats compulsively unhealthy and has minimal concern for germs or disease. While trying to eat a hard-boiled egg with mayonnaise and salt, it is stolen from him by a chimpanzee. He gets it back, but not before it falls into the filth of the chimp's habitat. When Shane is disgusted by him about to eat it he uses the "ten second rule" as a justification for the unsanitary act.Inside Frank's body, Osmosis "Ozzy" Jones, an agent of the Frank PD, is an adventure-seeking white blood cell with a good sense of humor. He is a rebel cop, frequently disobeying authority to do what he thinks is right. He is often mocked by his fellow cops due to his rebellious nature. He has been relocated to the mouth to fight against germs entering the body via ingestion after he induced Frank to vomit all over Shane's science and P. E. teacher, Mrs. Boyd at the school's science fair. This was considered a false alarm because he had been the only one to suspect an incoming pathological threat from the raw oyster Frank had eaten from one of the displays. After several newcomer germs, believed to be gingivitis, hijack a "squad car" in the mouth, Osmosis and another officer in an FPD helicopter, are pulled into the lungs by a massive yawn while in pursuit. After the germs evade capture and pass into "Immunity's" jurisdiction, Osmosis disobeys direct orders as he pursues the germ on foot and accidentally triggers a major cramp in Frank's leg.Meanwhile, Mayor Phlegmming is preparing for re-election, campaigning with the promise of more junk food. His reckless policies are largely responsible for Frank's deteriorating health, but his re-election hopes are complicated by the arrival of Thrax, a deadly virus that came with the hard-boiled egg. In an attempt to cover up the severity of the situation, Phlegmming "tells" Frank to take a cold-suppressant pill. The pill, Drixenol "Drix" Koldreliff, arrives in the body and covers Frank's infected throat with a disinfectant to soothe the irritation. Osmosis is assigned as Drix's partner, much to their mutual chagrin. Later on, an influenza virus tells Osmosis and Drix about Thrax's plot to masquerade as a common cold while at the same time plotting to kill Frank with a high fever. Osmosis and Drix confront Thrax in a club in one of Frank's zits, where Drix launches a grenade of medication at Thrax and his goons, popping the skin blemish, killing nearly all of Thrax's men, and seemingly ending the virus's siege. The pop of the zit further aggravates Mrs. Boyd, when Frank comes to apologize for his earlier action of vomiting on her at the science fair.Thrax survives the explosion and after killing off his remaining henchmen, launches a lone assault on Frank's hypothalamus gland (the portion of the brain that controls the temperature) by disabling its self-regulative capabilities. There, he uses his virus-infecting claw to destroy the protoplasmic barrier around the gland and takes a DNA bead. Soon after, the mayor's secretary, Leah Estrogen, discovers his sabotage and alerts security. Thrax manages to evade them, taking Leah hostage and escapes from the brain to the mouth. Meanwhile, the temperature continues to rise, causing chaos to break out all over the City of Frank. Frank is taken to the hospital under the influence of Thrax's attack. Ozzy and Drix rescue Leah and confront Thrax, who leaves Frank's mouth after causing confusion using pollen. Osmosis and Thrax fight on one of Shane's eyeballs and end up on Shane's false eyelashes after she blinks, which she was wearing atop her natural ones on her way to a hiking trip.During the fight, Thrax threatens to kill Shane, but Ozzy causes him to knock Shane's false eyelash into a vessel of alcohol below, where he dissolves. During this time, the situation becomes even more dangerous when the temperature hits 108 degrees Fahrenheit, causing Frank to go into cardiac arrest. Just as doctors give up, Frank is revived when Ozzy returns to his body with one of Shane's tears with the missing hypothalamus chromosome. Ozzy is reinstated into "Immunity" with full privileges, he and Drix are declared heroes with the Chief of Police giving Ozzy his job back. Having survived Thrax's attack, Frank has begun to improve his diet and personal hygiene.Meanwhile, Phlegmming has lost his position as mayor and is now a janitor in the bowels. He accidentally ejects himself from the body via the rectum by touching a button that is important and marked "DO NOT TOUCH!" which triggers Frank's farting. | psychedelic, violence | train | imdb | This movie gives a very imaginative way the body works to fight infection, as if the body was a city of people just like in the real world.
You may need to have some sort of knowledge about the body to get some of the puns and jokes, maybe not very young kids will get it, but they will like the animation...this movie is even good for adults.
The humor, while funny, is still very much what you'd expect from a Farelly Brothers movie that takes place inside a very sick man, so I wouldn't recommend it to little kids or the weak of stomach.
Although when you think about it the plot-line inside Frank's body (frank is played by Bill Murray with no shame in great form) is rather routine and for me was the only thing keeping this from being really good.Still, it might be a worthwhile movie, more for kids than adults, but it it watchable for all.
Only "There's Something About Mary" stands up against "Osmosis Jones," a film that jumps between live action and cartoon animation.
Osmosis Jones (voiced by Chris Rock) is one of those white blood cells who serves as a cop and must capture various villainous germs and viruses inside Frank.
After the virus, named Thrax (voiced by Laurence Fishburne), accumulates villainous help and starts on a plan to kill Frank in a record time of forty eight hours, Osmosis must work with a cold pill named Drix (voiced by David Hyde Pierce), to stop this monstrously powerful germ before it's too late for Frank and his daughter.The movie has some very clever material-various parts of the body represent neighborhoods in the City of Frank.
Even adults will enjoy the live action humor, as well as the film's zest, energy, and irony.In a time when summer movies are at an all time low, "Osmosis Jones" is here to save they day.
How does the body work?I've always wanted to know exactly what goes on inside my body, and I must say I had a pretty fair idea thanks to my Biology class in school.Then I saw Osmosis Jones, which completely threw me off.The way Frank's body works and the cause/effect situations in this movie are hilarious!
The creative abilities of the creators of this movie seems endless even though it is limited to Frank's body.The characters are well drawn-out, and we even learn some of Jones' background (he lived in a certain area of the body and had hardly any education).
Even the rap and R&B music fit in and didn't sound too bad.All in all, Osmosis Jones is a great movie if you like animation (especially quick-action animated fighting scenes) and imaginative adventures such as these..
It was like a peculiar yet satisfying mix between the Incredible Journey, Toy Story, and Lethal Weapon or Rush Hour (the whole loose-cannon, loner cop with a new partner bit).I found the idea rather original: the human body is like a body of government, the cop is a white blood cell, the "president" was the cell whose will was that of the man (Bill Murray), the villain is a virus who hangs out in seedy areas of the body with shady characters, the bladder is a sort of train station/airport...
The live action combined with the animation was very creative and a great way to watch the movie.
And we travel inside Frank to see white blood cell policeman Osmosis Jones (Chris Rock) battle evil virus Thrax (Laurence Fishburne) with the help of Drix (David Hyde Pierce).Bill Murray looks awful as he gets sicker and sicker.
This is meant to be a family film.Now, the stuff I do like about it; the animation is great, it's very creative, (making the stomach the airport, the brain is city hall, the armpits are the steam room, I could go on)Laurence Fishburne was fantastic as Thrax.
It is remarkable that the writers and directors of this film felt it was appropriate to mesh a lot of highly original and creative material (the "metropolis" of a human body, complete down to every nuance of its function and translated into animation) with a main character setup that is now so trite (the fast-talking, annoying inner city cop with a chip on his shoulder who plays by his own rules and doesn't follow procedure, paired unwillingly with the practical straight man or some other stereotypical partner who will get on his nerves.) Chris Rock as the mouthy, wise-cracking cop from the wrong side of the tracks..
It's an animated film (in parts) about the internal workings of a man's body.The man is played by Bill Murray during the "live action" sequences.
These are intercut with animated sequences that involve cells and amoebas and organs and so on and so forth voiced by the likes of William Shatner, Chris Rock, Laurence Fishburne, David Hyde Pierce (Niles from "Frasier"), Kid Rock and Ron Howard.The cells are all animated cartoon characters who look, talk and act like humans.
They'd just see cartoon characters fighting, and be entertained and the whole knowledge of the body would almost have no effect on the kids.This movie felt like something an 8 year old would think if they were taught what we're usually taught in Grade 8 about cells and all that other stuff.I think the largest problem with this movie is that it was made to appeal to kids under 10, but it's directed at kids 13-17.
If you can get through the zit popping, puking and other disgusting characteristics of Bill Murray's character and pay attention to David Hyde Pierce and Chris Rock's back and forth then you are bound to leave the movie having had several good belly laughs.
This is a very cool live-action/animated movie starring Bill Murray as Frank Detorre, who after eating some bad food contracted a life-threatening virus.
In the movie, the internal organs of Frank's body is an animated world known as the City of Frank, and is where a policeman white blood cell named Osmosis Jones (Chris Rock) and a cold pill Frank took named Drix (David Hyde Pierce) attempt to stop the virus known as Drax (Lawrence Fishburne) from claiming Frank's life.I thought this movie is very clever and imaginative, putting the human body into a whole new perspective.
It makes your "insides" seem like an entire and adventurous different world, where in the film the white blood cells are law enforcement officers, lymph nodes are police stations, veins are highways, blood is water/lava, stomach is a bus station, a rowdy club is a pimple, and the germs and bacteria are the criminals.Marc Hyman wrote a fun, imaginative and adventurous script for the movie, cleverly depicting (in animation) how the human body fights infections and sickness.
And, the live-acting and voice casting were great - realistic and believable.As this movie is raged PG, there is also quite a bit of bodily humor, puns and jokes, especially involving digestion, going to the restroom, passing gas, popping pimples from the face, food in the mouth..
PROS: -Creative Premise and Environment (some of the body part/city comparisons were brilliant) -Good Comedy(includes several HILARIOUS Sight Gags.) -Cool Villain -Decent Animation CONS: -The Parts with Bill Murray on camera can sometimes drag a touch.
In a very creative and funny way, the producers teach us a lot about our body through the adventure of Osmose Jones, a white blood cell, and Drix, a cold pill.
David Hyde Pierce was also great as the Cold Pill named Drix.The animation is really cool, and I guess you could sort of say it's one of the last good animated movies made, seeing as the world has been taken over with CGI (Which is not necessarily a bad thing...
The plot of the story is extremely well thought of and in hindsight i can understand why it is made by the Farrelly brothers, they have a reputation of making offbeat and skew movies, this one would fall into those categories just from the plot idea.The acting is good, Bill Murray pulls off a very believing father who doesn't give a hoot about germs and disgusting food habits, and therefore his body becomes the host of a very nasty virus named Thrax, and then the movie takes off.For those 90 minutes you will be very entertained and at some times you will close your eyes in disgust while your children will scream and laugh, i wont tell you where these things happen but rest assured, THEY WILL!
:)All in all this is a great movie and the voice cast for the main roles fits perfectly, although i have a little trouble with David Hyde Pierce lending his voice to a wannabe-hero-medicine-cold-reliever just from remembering him from Frasier, but after a little while you could not imagine anyone else giving voice.Give this film a chance in the DVD player, you will not be disappointed if you like : Original Plot idea.
I would recommend this movie to EVERYONE!It has everything for everyone:Bill Murray: (One of his funniest movies--and thats saying a lot!) Great Animation: (More than just eye candy, it puts a hilarious spin on the inside of our bodies, and funny ideas about whats going on in there!) Chris Rock: (Great how well he fit this part) William Shatner: (Perfectly Cast as the Mayor of Bill Murrays Brain) Molly Shannon: (Plays great with Bill Murray as his poor daughters teacher) BUFFALO WINGS!!
Bill Murray, who plays Frank, fans might be disappointed that all he does is make funny faces, say stupid things and be gross to facilitate the plot but the real comedy is in Chris Rock's character Osmosis Jones and his partner played by Fraiser's David Hyde Pierce.
"Osmosis Jones" is a very funny, entertaining and clever film brought by the Farrelly brothers, creators of comedies like "Dumb and Dumber", "There's Something About Mary" and "Me, Myself & Irene".
This last one is the main part of the film, where we find our white blood cell cop "Osmosis Jones" (Chris Rock), followed by his partner Drix (David Hyde Pierce), a cold tablet, in order to prevent the body from the attack of the evil and powerful virus Thrax (Lawrence Fishburne).
There's a major disconnect between the live action sequences with Frank (Bill Murray) in the real world (which make up perhaps 1/3 of the movie) and theanimated sequences of what's going on inside his body.
For me, this very cartoony anthropomorphic world of his internal organisms (the animation design reminds me of the Simpsons a little bit) just cannot possibly exist at all in the real world...yet we are supposed to believe that Frank's white blood cells look like Smurf/Bart Simpson hybrids and sound like Chris Rock...it was just impossible for me to suspend my disbelief as the film cuts back and forth between these two completely different universes.
The audience feels no sympathy towards Murray and that is the fatal flaw of the film.And really, I expected more of Rock...there are a couple of scenes where it looks like he was able to improvise and do his thing but for the most part the filmmakers keep him on a pretty short leash and stick to the script, and I really think that an opportunity may have been missed there.
How it functions by having a whole community run by a mayor (William Shatner) and a police force of white blood cells and a lot of real-life city stuff showcased a lot of creative effort was put into it.It centers on a white blood cells Osmosis Jones (Chris Rock) who is that kind of cop who does things his own way and the others at the police station do not approve of his ways, but he is later assigned to a new case with a partner to keep him on track, a cold pill named Drix (David Hyde Pierce).
I'll give him more credit for that.The live-action segments is the movie's biggest drawbacks with an unlikable main character and lowbrow humour as you would expect from the farelly brothers, and frankly (no pun intented) the animated segments aren't perfect and the transitions between the two don't always work.But overall Osmosis I found Osmosis Jones enjoyable, but flawed.
Chris Rock plays a lively white blood cell cop who responds when Frank eats a hard boiled egg that's home to a deadly virus, and runs all about the City Of Frank chasing it down, joined by a robotic cherry flavoured Cold Pill (David Hyde Pierce).
Good Animation, Nicely Voiced and With An Interesting Story, Osmosis Jones is a mediocre unique type of a animated movie which is good for time-pass and can entertain you with its mind-boggling but unique and satirical story about the human body along with nice Voice acting by Chris Rock(who was very good) and Lawrence Fishburne and decent effort from the directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly.The Story is quite unique about the body of Frank Detorre and what takes place in his body which is full of oily and harmful junk food which he consumes on a daily basis, and how the protective cells in the human body fight to destroy the bacteria and virus's which come into the body through the food.
The Main Character is Osmosis Jones(Chris Rock), who is a cop cell who always manages to run into trouble and harm Frank's body and he tries to become famous by defeating the harmful virus which wants to kill Frank with his partner Thrax(Fishburne).The Voice acting by the lead actors are very good and they have successfully synchronised their voices with their characters and helped in making the characters look very real!
Also, I liked the characters, Ozzy and Drix are likable and what they get up to is intriguing, fun and often unpredictable, Thrax is a great villain and the voice acting from Chris Rock, Laurence Fishburne, David Hyde Pierce, William Shatner and Bill Murray is top notch.
At the same time the mayor of Frank is doing what he can to cover it up as just a brief cold to avoid panic as the election is coming up.Osmosis Jones is a clever little movie combining animation and real life to tell the story.
This was a very clever idea, that effectively shows a live-action sequence, then presents the interior of a character's (Frank - Bill Murray) body in animation.
Our hero is a white blood cell named Osmosis Jones (Voiced well by Chris Rock, far more entertaining here than in every other movie role I've seen him in), who has to stop the evil virus before it's too late.Here is the unusual film that is actual more childish and cartoony during the live action Bill Murray scenes (which feature a fight with a monkey, an exploding zit, and flatulence) and witty and adult in the animated scenes.
Part live action, part animation, it's a spin on buddy pictures that takes place in zookeeper Bill Murray's body, where a rogue virus (the voice of Laurence Fishburne) plots to kill Murray while a disgraced police cell (no pun intended) voiced by Chris Rock teams with a cold pill (the voice of David Hyde Pierce) to defeat him.
Somewhere between "Yuck!" and "Yuk-Yuk!" falls "Osmosis Jones," a puzzling but memorable departure for the Farrelly brothers, whose previous forays into bodily functions have heretofore been WAAAY beyond PG and animated only in the sense that they were vividly and hilariously grotesque.The title character is voiced with patent hip by Chris Rock, who brings life to a white blood cell/loose cannon cop on the trail of a particularly nasty baddy named Thrax (Lawrence Fishburne).
It's about an ambitious, but sometimes a little clumsy white blood cell cop named Osmosis Jones [voiced by Chris Rock] who teams up with a wise-cracking cold tablet named Drix [voiced by David Hyde Pierce] to protect the human they live inside [Bill Murray] from an evil virus named Thrax that his making the body sick.
OSMOSIS JONES is a funny, well-animated, creative, action-packed, and entertaining family film that should please both kids and adults.
Clever enough to keep you watching, although bits of the plot were predictable and pedestrian Bill Murray was as usual terrifically watchable, and the cartoon animation was fun.The press reviews have been poor for this one, but as usual they miss the boat when it comes to kid's movies -my 8-1/2 year old daughter loved it, and still talks about it days later.
I missed it in thearters,and i forgot to rent it,but recently i saw it on a movie channel.The characters are funny and imaginative,and the animation is colourful.It all starts in a zoo,where Frank(Bill Murray) eats an egg that's been in a monkeys mouth(yes,i thought it was gross too ><).Now the animation part comes in.A white blood cell cop,Osmosis Jones(Chris Rock),and "that annoying smart guy" cold pill Drix(David Hyde Pierce)have to get rid of the virus from the egg,Thrax(Laurence Fishburne).Sounds complicated?It's not.It's just a buddy cop movie taking place inside "The City of Frank".The live action looks funny,but it is gross and just horrible.How?Hmm...let me see..Frank barfs on his daughters teacher,and his zit pops.Just pops outta nowhere,and it lands on the teacher(she must live a terrible life XD).And it's not funny!The "jokes" that were attempted never made me laugh.But if you have a young kid who likes toliet humour,knock yourself out.
That said, "Osmosis Jones" is a pretty interesting movie in that it manages to follow two separate story lines (filmed in different medium: live action and animation) fairly well.
Moving to the animated story line, Osmosis Jones (voiced by Chris Rock) is a white-blood-cell that discovers the virus and must stop him from killing Frank, and all the people (cells) in Frank's body.I found myself interested in each story line, and the transfers between live action and animation kept the movie exciting.
The way that Bill Murray lives his life in this movie is downright wrong and gross but can be pretty funny watching him go by his ten second rule in eating things. |
tt0059470 | Morituri | Robert Crain (Marlon Brando) is a German pacifist living in India during the Second World War. He is blackmailed by the Allies into using his engineering experience to disable the scuttling charges of a German merchant ship carrying rubber from Japan. The Allies hope to recover the ship before it is scuttled by the captain because rubber is in short supply and essential for various uses in the war effort.
On board the ship, Crain finds the captain (Yul Brynner) to be a patriotic German who despises the Nazis. His first officer, however, is a fanatical Party member. Several of the crew are political prisoners pressed into service because of labor shortages. Eventually Crain enlists them in a plan to give the ship to the Allies. Complications arise when several American prisoners and two suspicious Germany Naval officers are brought on board from a Japanese submarine. One prisoner, Esther (Janet Margolin), a young German Jewess, joins the plot.
About to be exposed, Crain organizes a mutiny which fails, after which he sets off demolition charges. The surviving crew abandons ship, leaving behind Crain and the captain. The lard being transported in the hold spills and acts as a temporary stopper, keeping them afloat. Crain convinces the captain to radio the Allies for rescue. | suspenseful | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0367959 | Hannibal Rising | In 1944, Lecter is eight years old, living in Lecter Castle; constructed by his paternal ancestor, Hannibal the Grim, in the Lithuanian countryside. Lecter, his younger sister, Mischa, and his parents escape to the family's hunting lodge in the woods to elude the advancing German troops. Back at Lecter Castle, six Lithuanian militiamen (Grutas, Dortlich, Grentz, Kolnas, Milko, and Pot Watcher) request to join the Waffen-SS. The SS commander orders them to kill the Lecters' Jewish cook who was left behind, to which they gleefully comply.A Soviet tank stops at the Lecters' lodge looking for water, and forces everyone out of the house. However, the tank is then spotted by a German Stuka bomber, which sparks a firefight. The bomber is shot down by the tank, but subsequently crashes into it and the ensuing explosion kills everyone, except Hannibal and Mischa.
The SS militiamen then loot Lecter Castle. Seeing their wounded SS commander, Grutas shoots him and takes his Iron Cross. However, the impending Russian advance forces them to hide out in the woods where they locate the Lecter lodge. The SS militiamen storm and take over the lodge. Finding no other food in the bitterly cold Baltic winter, the men look menacingly at Hannibal and Mischa.The movie then cuts to a scene eight years later inside Lecter Castle, which has been turned into a Soviet-run orphanage. A bully harasses Lecter, who has been rendered mute by his experiences, about not singing the orphanage anthem. The bully attacks his head, but Lecter blocks his swing with a fork, impaling the bully's hand. That evening, Lecter experiences a flashback about Mischa screaming in his sleep, which angers the youth commander, who locks him in a dungeon. However, Lecter escapes from the castle orphanage to Paris to live with his widowed aunt, the Lady Murasaki-Lecter. She gets him to speak for the first time since his childhood, and instructs him about flower arrangement, martial arts and ancestor worship.At a local market, a butcher makes a crude and racist remark about Lady Murasaki. Lecter then attacks him. Later, while the butcher is fishing, Lecter requests an apology from him, and is denied. He then slices the butcher's stomach, arm and back with a katana, then decapitates him. Later that evening, the family cook tells Lecter that the most delicious part of the fish he took from the butcher is the cheeks and helps develop Lecter's signature style of biting his victims cheeks. That same evening, he is suspected of the butcher's murder by Inspector Popil, a French detective who had also lost his family to the war. Thanks in great part to the intervention of his aunt, who places the butcher's disembodied head outside police headquarters while Hannibal is being interrogated inside, Lecter escapes responsibility for the crime.Eventually, Lecter becomes the youngest person ever admitted to medical school in France. He receives a working scholarship, where he is given a job preparing cadavers. One day, Lecter witnesses a condemned war criminal receiving a sodium thiopental injection to force him to recall details about his war crimes. In an attempt to recall the names of those responsible for his sister's death, Lecter injects himself with the solution while listening to Glenn Gould's recording of the Goldberg Variations. The same music is also heard in Silence of the Lambs. His subsequent flashback reveals that Pot Watcher had the dogtags of the other deserters when he was killed as the Russians bombed the lodge. The dogtags should still be in the ruins of the lodge.Lecter then returns to Lithuania in search of the dogtags, as well as his sister's remains. While crossing the Soviet border, he draws the attention of Dortlich, who is now a Soviet border patrol officer. Lecter excavates the ruins of the lodge where his family died, and also unearths the dogtags of the group of deserters who had killed his sister. Dortlich attempts to kill him, but Lecter gets the upper hand and incapacitates him. After he buries Mischa's remains, Lecter ties Dortlich to a tree and forces him to reveal the whereabouts of the rest of his gang. When he refuses to reveal enough details, Lecter decapitates Dortlich with a horse-drawn pulley. Dortlich's blood splashes on Lecter's face and he wipes it off and licks it. Later, the Soviet police arrive on the scene, only to discover Dortlich's head, with its cheeks carved off, apparently made into a brochette.Lecter then visits Kolnas' restaurant in Fontainebleau. He finds Kolnas' young daughter, whom he notices is wearing Mischa's bracelet. He then gives Kolnas' dogtag to her. Kolnas enters the restaurant, but Lady Murasaki persuades Lecter not to kill him, for the sake of Kolnas' children. Dortlich's murder, along with Kolnas' dogtag, puts the rest of the group in alert. Grutas, now a sex trafficker, dispatches a second member of the group, Zigmas Milko, to kill Lecter. Milko sneaks into Lecter's laboratory at night with a gun, but Lecter senses his presence and knocks him out with an injection. Just as Police Inspector Popil is entering the lab, Lecter locks Milko in the cadaver tank and leaves him to drown in the embalming fluid. Popil questions Lecter about Dortlich's murder, but is again unable to establish Lecter's guilt. Popil then tries to dissuade him from hunting the gang, and offers to let him go free if he helps locate Grutas. After Lecter leaves, Popil remarks to his assistant that Lecter lost all of his humanity when Mischa died, and has become a monster.Lady Murasaki begs Lecter not to complete his revenge, but Lecter says that he made a promise to Mischa. Lecter then sets up a time bomb in Grutas' home, and attacks him in the bath. However, a maid alerts Grutas' bodyguards, who then rush in. Just as Grutas' bodyguards are about to slit his throat, Lecter's time bomb goes off and he escapes.Grutas kidnaps Lady Murasaki and calls Lecter, using her as bait. Lecter recognizes the sounds of Kolnas' ortolans from his restaurant in the background. Lecter goes there and plays on Kolnas' emotions by threatening his children, forcing him to give up the location of Grutas' boat. Lecter then says he will leave Kolnas alone for the sake of his family, and places his gun on the hot stove. As Kolnas goes for the gun, Lecter impales him through the head with his Tant. He then hides the Tant behind his back.Lecter goes to the houseboat. Just as he is about to untie Lady Murasaki, Grutas shoots him in the back. Grutas then proceeds to molest Lady Murasaki. Lecter takes out the Tant, which was broken by the force of the bullet, and slashes Grutas's Achilles' tendons with it, crippling him. In a final confrontation, Grutas claims that Lecter too had consumed his sister in broth fed to him by the deserters, and he was killing them to keep this fact secret. Enraged, Lecter carves his sister's initial, M, into Grutas's chest. Lady Murasaki, disturbed by his behavior, flees from him even after he tells her that he loves her. As she leaves, Hannibal bites off Grutas's cheeks in what will become his signature attack. The houseboat is then incinerated, but Lecter, assumed to be dead, emerges from the woods. The film then concludes with Lecter hunting down the last member of the group, Grentz, in Canada, and after killing him, moves to America, thus beginning his killings in the country. There are a number of years between the end of this film and the beginning of the events in Manhunter/Red Dragon. | boring, murder, violence, revenge, flashback, romantic | train | imdb | I don't know if any of these people have read any of the books, let alone Hannibal Rising, but I loved the movie.
Ulliel looked very menacing as the anti-hero Lecter but charming at times as well, just as Hannibal should be and he is backed up by a strong supporting cast (Rhys Ifans in particular).There are nice references to The Silence of the Lambs the Samurai's face mask that Hannibal tries on resembling the mask worn in SOTL and the music that he listens to in his room at the medical school which is the same as he has playing in his cell in Baltimore.I was hooked from start to finish and would recommend this film to anyone..
It has absolutely no self-distance, the kind of spark in the eye of Anthony Hopkins, or any form of a sense of humour.Onto casting, Gaspard Ulliel is clearly not a bad performer, nor is anyone's acting truly the root of the film's problems.
this movie is about how Hannibal got STARTED, there is no Anthony Hopkins, no other serial killers, NOTHING that makes it like the other 3 movies (yes I know there are 4 but I don't want to see Brian Cox as Lecter) so why would you go in and expect it to be like them.
so seriously, if you are going to go see this movie, expect a good story, some pretty good acting from most of the people involved, a few bloody scenes, and a very disturbing beginning to the life of Lecter.if you go in expecting anything else, you are just wasting your time..
I went and seen Hannibal Rising last night and have to say that even though it was not as good as the novel i still highly recommend this movie, the acting is pretty good given they are not your high profile Hollywood stars and Gaspard Ulliel play a wonderful Hannibal Lecter.The scenery is beautiful, the war scenes are very well shot and the acting throughout the movie is well above what i expected especially from the little known french actor playing the famous cannibal.Don't go see this movie expecting a similar style of film like the others in the Saga, just go and enjoy the movie and marvel as you see what sort of monster a human being is capable of becoming.Overall i think the movie holds enough of its own to be a very worthy addition to the "Hannibal" franchise.Fans of the book will probably find the movie more absorbing than those who haven't read it.
I'm a big fan of the whole Lecter story, have read all the books, of which I thought "Hannibal Rising" was an OK (although not great) final installment.The film is, quite simply, rubbish.
Hannibal Lecter is surely one of the most intriguing characters ever, yet this movie, which captures his "beginning" story (always the biggest opportunities for a great film story) falls completely flat.The acting is mediocre at best (awful stereotypical English-with-a-cheesy-foreign-accent stuff), the dialogue is cliché-ridden, stilted and unconvincing, the timing/editing is abysmal, the cinematography provides little in the way of drama, the climax is, admittedly, slightly better, but the ending is near-pointless and feels tacked-on.Don't bother watching this movie, it does little to further the Lecter anthology..
Gaspard Ulliel has always been a brilliant actor, and this film only added to his successful career achievements.The plot summary took on an angle of Hannibal Lecter never discussed, and certainly never shown in film, that being his early developmental years.
Titanic was awful - but at least it had a sort of drunken, mawkish grace to it -Hannibal disappears up its own ass from about twenty or so minutes into the film and you cannot believe that Thomas Harris actually ahem...*cannibalised* his own book to come up with a thin gruel of a film, something that makes Plan 9 from Outer Space look like a true masterpiece.
Only one little bit (the 'art' shot) where Hannibal as a little boy is stumbling through the snow has any effect whatsoever.Honestly when you watch it - you will think two things all of the way through the film.1: It should have been called Carry On Lecter: Don't Lose Your Head2:When did Lecter turn into David Copperfield?
In all of the films to date you would have noticed how "with it" Hannibal is but young lecter is too weird, i don't like him where as you kinda grew fond of Hannibal portrayed by anthony hopkins, this isn't in anyway silence of the lambs, red dragon or Hannibal this is just poo!!!
Peter Webber, director of Girl with a Pearl Earring takes a bite (no pun intended) into one of the most villainous and ferocious masterminds of contemporary cinema, Hannibal Lecter.The film is a prequel to Oscar winner, The Silence of the Lambs and the unknown Manhunter which is also a prequel to the Oscar winner.
Nothing compares to the atrocity played here by Gaspard Ulliel known for his lukewarm portrayal as the vanished soldier in A Very Long Engagement.The film starts with Young Hannibal in his formative years during World War II and his transformation, if that's even the word, into a brutal serial cannibal killer.
He includes the most horrible love story which has no way of enchanting any couple and includes a few chase scenes and terrible stipulation of who and what Hannibal Lecter truly is.Ulliel cannot grasp the character rather attempts a Anthony Hopkins impression and seemingly fails on many levels to bring a new Hannibal to life.
In fact, demystifying the killer makes him a little less scary, which surely can't be a good thing for a horror film.The movie begins in war torn Lithuania, where a young Hannibal is forced to care for his sister Mischa after their parents are killed.
However, when a band of unwelcome hungry war criminals decide to sit out the harsh winter in Hannibal's home, Hannibal finds he no longer needs to care for his siblingbecause the nasty men use her as the main ingredient in a delicious and warming stew.Eight years later, a grown-up Hannibal (Gaspard Ulliel) is living with his tasty Japanese aunt Murasaki Shikibu (Gong Li) in France, when the opportunity arises for him to get even with the men who ate little Mischa.The first half of the film is awfully dulla dreary biopic showing how the boy came to be all alone and emotionally damaged.
Given that it won't have much appeal to a new audience, that makes it a pretty big failure.We already know some of the story of his past from the books, so the movie should have focused on how the fantastic character of Hannibal Lecter came to be.
Instead it takes the only big thing that we *already knew*, and builds a completely random story of war-crimes and revenge around it, involving a character named Hannibal Lecter, but whose behaviour and motives bear no resemblance at all to the character we know.
That he is a little style-less and impulsive is annoying but could potentially be explained away, but the Hannibal in this movie is passionate and troubled, not especially cultured, and shows no calm or of that great sense of irony.Some aspects of the character are covered in a weak attempt to tie it in - like that he can defeat a lie detector or tell things about people - but they're really blunt, poorly executed, don't lead on to anything, and have no explanation!
Thanks to the meticulously of Jonathan Demme and presence of Anthony Hopkins, who invented the narrative and esthetic's codes of the saga to come (in my opinion, more than Thomas Harris, who's book could have been adapted in many other ways, as the Michael Mann's adaptation of Red Dragon - "Manhunter" - shows it), the series of film that fallows "Silent of the lamb", if they weren't all good ("Red Dragon" is an absolute waste of talent) had the interest to include a most fascinating character : Dr Hannibal Lecter.In this age of prequels, origins and beginnings, which only shows the incapacity for Hollywood to create a new and original concept, it's not very surprising to see a film that tells us the youth of the distinguish cannibal.
: and of course, like in all American movie, she's really strong in martian art, and a good and wise teacher to young Lecter), and the script is rather stupid.Where "The silent of the lamb" and even "Hannibal" manage to stay rather clever and credible about the psychology of Lecter, this origin is so full of historical mistakes (the after WWII France isn't credible at all : the houses interiors, decors and direction panels seems too modern), clichés (see the German army in the beginning : they flew from the Russian front, but they're all SS and all they could think about is to kill some Jews and Gypsies, and everyone speaks English, no matter were you are !
Interesting to notice, however, that everyone has a different accent...), and facilities (Hannibal's reason to become a cannibal are really poor and incredible).All in all, this movie, enjoyable for one or two torture scenes, is highly dispensable, and, as usual, I strongly recommend you to watch the original movie ("The Silent of the Lamb") rather than this simplification of the character, for you'll learn much more about a psychopath's psychology in the Demme's movie than in this one..
I haven't read the book for Hannibal Rising, but if it's anything like the movie, then I'm very disappointed in Thomas Harris.
Hannibal Lecter was never about physical intimidation or fighting skills - Hannibal, both in the books and previous films, used his masterful intellect, psychopathic manipulation skills and knowledge of human anatomy to his favor.People who liked "Hannibal", might find this movie slightly entertaining.
People who didn't like "Hannibal" will hate this movie, since it's the film of the previous three with least story, and by far the most gore just for the sake of it.
I just saw the film at prepremiere in Bern Switzerland.First of all i read the book and my expectations was huge.I prayed to god not to be disappointed.And i can say no i am not.Although Thomas Harris did a screenplay for this film as well as he wrote the book , some things are not the same in the film like in the book ,and some are missing.Hope missing things are left for the DVD extended edition.Those things can offend some Lecter huge fans as i am too.But this were just several not sooo important things for understanding the film.All in all the film is true to book in all important things and events.I understand too that filmmakers can not integrate all events from book in film cause it would be too long.Gaspard Ulliel plays Hannibal Lecter mostly wery well.What i found slightly negative is ,just maybe,a little bit over the top.That means in some important scenes like murders his face and his art to play Hannibal is very wild.But clear is : after those traumas he had to live with no one can guarantee to stay normal or calm.Man can really see how he enjoy the act of revenge.You can really see it on his face.Those savage deserters that killed his sister really deserve same savage deaths like they did in their past.There are a lot gruesome deaths and images in this movie , what was to expect from a Lecter movie.A lot more than in any Lecter movie before.Some would say :now is a Lecter Mystery over.He is no longer a mystery to us like he was.But no.I would say: this film had to be made as book had to be written.No we understand why he is like he is.Although in this part of life he is still very young , can not always keep his feelings hidden.He is a Young Wild that becomes a Madman cause of his trauma from his childhood that never leave him in peace.For him all of his later victims remaining him of those Deserteurs .One more book and one more film has to be made where he would be explained a little further.His genius , his loving for art , fine things , his life as young doctor in Baltimore , America.He told once to Clarice that lambs are now still and silent but they will not always remain still , they will scream again.So his trauma will always stay with him , his whole life.
Honestly, I do enjoy movies that will tell a story with minimal dialogue, but the film still needs decent actors who can show us what the characters are thinking.
Okay sure, if the title character in this movie were named Hans Frankz and had no ties to the Thomas Harris book series, it could be a decent albeit slow and lengthy film.Unfortunately, the ties to the Lecter story give the director ample opportunity to show his knack for cheesy clichés and lack of imagination.
maybe i could have bought the story if it had been properly developed but it really looks like the script was just thrown together, its not like the world was screaming for a Hannibal prequel, so they could have taken their time and made an amazing movie, instead we ended up with complete rubbish.
The Lecter character wasn't really very appealing and it seemed as if for the whole movie the filmmakers were trying to justify his future acts by making the incident at the beginning of the film seem so awful.
When movie studios want to make a quick buck they take a popular franchise and decide to doop audiences' by delivering useless exposition with a catchy tag-line such as: "See how it all began." In this case you didn't want to know that Hannibal Lecter, the brilliantly demented psychiatrist cannibal we all know and love as Anthony Hopkins, has been reduced to some french-accented worm of an actor (Gaspard Ulliel).
This movie will disappoint Hannibal fans.If you want to see the Hannibal we are familiar with don't bother with watching this thing.And even if you excuse the lack of similarities with the other Hannibal films this movie is still boring and forgettable.In this film we learn of the beginnings of Dr.Hannibal Lector.The atrocities inflicted on his family during the last days of World War II,especially his sister,just flips little Hannibal out and starts him down his wicked road to total evilness.Somehow he gets into a well-to- do medical school in France and learns the things he needs to learn about the human body to further his career,I guess you'd say.Which is fine I guess.But the problem is in the film Hannibal's actions don't seem all that wicked or insane considering what happened to his family.If my family ended up like his did I might also seek revenge like he did and I think most folks feel the same way which sort of mutes Hannibals actions to the viewer.While the characters in the film wonder why Hannibal is so insane and such a monster, we as real people in the audience just aren't that horrified because Hannibal doesn't act all that crazy considering what has happened to him.And the other problem with this film is it doesn't know if it is a straight drama or a horror film so it sort of straddles the line and tries to be both.And it fails at both.Its hard to be a serious drama when you have to utter lines like ,"But he ate my sister!".Also the gore and blood is tame compared to what a straight horror film would have so viewers will be unsatisfied on both levels after watching this film.It also has a slow plodding pace,a way to stretch out the paper thin plot I suppose.And there is none of the trademark Hannibal stuff we are used to.This closest he comes to the well-known face mask is when he tries on a Samauri mask,looking up into the camera with an attempt to scare I guess.It just looked hokey to me.This film isn't terrible but it isn't good either.It is just sort of there, trying to feed off other better made movies about Dr.Lector.Not one to add to your horror collection and actually probably not worth a 2 buck rental but a friend let me borrow his copy so I'm okay there..
I am a huge fan of the Hannibal Lecter series, both movies as well as books.
I was disappointed after watching this film as I was expecting a prequel worthy of Silence of the Lambs movie.
The story is a prequel to the rest of the series and tries to explain Hannibal Lecter's origins, his childhood, and how he came to be a cannibalistic psychopath.The film begins in 1941 in the midst of World War II.
This film is a prequel to "Silence of the Lambs" and seeks to tell how the young Hannibal Lecter, affected by the dramatic events of World War II, became a dangerous cannibal.
Gaspard Ulliel, in the leading role, is a casting error: although he managed to give its character lots of coldness and cynicism, he wasn't able to give it charisma and sense of taste, striking personality traits of Lecter that are quite visible in Hopkins movies.The film contains several intense action scenes with moments that may hurt some people's sensibilities, so be warned.
And the color tones: the reds, the browns, the blacks, and other dark tones really set the mood for this film.Even though Hannibal Lecter seems like a bad guy in this movie, he's really not.
I'd love to see Ulliel do this again.) Harris fails to manage the suspense of the film in a good way, so at times it feels like Lecter is going on a killing spree.
DO NOT GO INTO THIS MOVIE EXPECTING TO SEE ANTHONY HOPKINS, OR THE SAME HANNIBAL THAT WE ALL LOVE IN SILENCE. |
tt0120148 | Sliding Doors | The film follows Helen Quilley (Gwyneth Paltrow), a young Englishwoman living in London who has just been fired from her public relations job. The plot splits into two parallel universes, based on the two paths her life could take depending on whether she catches a London Underground train or not.In the timeline in which she makes the train, she meets James (John Hannah) on the underground and they strike up a conversation. She gets home in time to catch her boyfriend Gerry (John Lynch) in bed with his American ex-girlfriend Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn); she dumps him and moves in with her friend Anna (Zara Turner). James continues to serendipitously pop into Helen's life, cheering her up and encouraging her to start her own public relations firm. Helen gets a new makeover by cutting her hair short and dying it blond. She and James fall in love despite Helen's reservations about beginning another relationship so soon after her ugly breakup with Gerry.In the timeline in which she misses the train, she then hails a taxi instead but gets mugged when a man snatches her handbag. Helen hits her head in the scuffle and goes to hospital. She arrives home late, giving Lydia time to leave. Helen carries on with her life oblivious of Gerry's infidelity, and begins working part-time jobs to pay bills. Gerry conceals his infidelity and juggles the two women in his life; Lydia even interacts with Helen on several occasions. Helen has a number of conflicts with Gerry, then discovers she's pregnant with his baby, but delays telling him.In the first timeline, Helen discovers she's pregnant, believing it is with James' child, and goes to see him at his office. She is stunned to learn from James' secretary that he is married. Upset, she disappears. James finds her on a bridge and explains that he was married but is now separated and planning to divorce. He and his soon-to-be ex-wife maintain a cordial relationship for the sake of his sick mother. After she and James declare their love for another, Helen walks out into the road and is hit by a car.In the second timeline, Helen tells Gerry she has a job interview with an international PR firm. Thinking Helen is at the interview, Gerry sees Lydia, who is also pregnant with his child. While there, the doorbell rings and Lydia tells Gerry to answer it. Helen is there, and is stunned when Lydia tells her she can't do the interview because she's "deciding whether or not to keep your boyfriend's baby." Distraught over finally catching her two-timing boyfriend's infidelity, Helen runs and falls down Lydia's staircase.In both timelines, after her accident (hit by a car in the first timeline, and falling down the stairs in the second) Helen goes to hospital and happens to end up in the very same emergency room in both timelines, and loses her baby. In the timeline in which she caught the train, she dies from internal bleeding in the arms of her newfound love. In the timeline in which she didn't, she recovers and tells Gerry to leave for good. Before waking up, she sees flashes of the other Helen's life.In the final scene (now taking place solely in the "missed the train" universe), James is leaving the hospital after visiting his mother, and Helen is leaving after ending her relationship with Gerry. Helen drops an earring in the elevator and it is picked up by James. This mirrors the start of the film, where James picks up Helen's earring on the elevator after Helen is fired from her job. Before the doors close, James tells Helen to cheer up, and repeats his line, "You know what the Monty Python boys say..." Helen (who, in the beginning of the film, assumed the rejoinder to be "always look on the bright side of life.") says, " Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition." She and James stare at one another, each surprised by her response. The doors close and the audience is left to wonder what will become next. | alternate reality, entertaining | train | imdb | The romantic comedy, 'Sliding Doors', is a great look at how quickly a person's life can change in a matter of moments.
By taking one path instead of another, forming a tantalizing 'what if?' In fact this movie gives the impression that some things are meant to be known, while some things are not.London publicists Helen, is effortlessly sliding between parallel storylines that show what happens if she does or does not catch a morning train back to her apartment.
Sliding doors is one of the best films that Gwyneth Paltrow has done.
The film clip to this song is also very good.Sliding doors is one of those feel good movies, which can also make you feel sad as well.
If you want to see the good and bad sides of love take a look at this romantic classic.CMRS gives 'Sliding Doors': 4.5 (Very Good- Brilliant Film).
The acting is great (even if Paltrow's accent is at times a little too British and forced) and the plot twists every few seconds.
It could have become very confusing, but the direction is good enough that you can easily follow the two stories at once.There are two things that stop this film being a 10.
The second is that the message of the film seems that we don't control our own future-after all, it isnt Helen who decides if she makes it to the train, it all depends on if a little girl is pulled out of the way by her mother in time.
Gwyneth Paltrow plays Helen Quilley, she works in Public Relations and is dating an idiot who is cheating on her (come on guys, would you?) After losing her job she heads home early, and the film then follows two Parallel realities, that cross over and intertwine in a very clever manner, that adds a great deal to the movies quality.One way, she gets home and finds him cheating, and the other way she is mugged and her boyfriend gets away with it, at least for now.In this wonderfully charming romantic comedy, great performances from, Paltrow, Lynch, Hannah and Tripplehorn plus a good script and some good laughs all add up to a movie i simply don't tire of.
In the other, she meets talkative James (John Hannah) on the train and finds her boyfriend Gerry (John Lynch) cheating with Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn).Written and directed by Peter Howitt, this movie is one gimmick but I'm not sure there is much more than that.
I don't remember reading a thing about this movie when it originally appeared, and that's odd because I enjoy Gwyneth Paltrow's work.
I caught up with it on DVD, and I thought it was a superior movie with an extremely interesting premise and splendid performances by Paltrow's co-stars.
Although Gwyneth Paltrow plays the same character in both aspects of the story, both Helens seem completely different.
It is thoughtful about what might happen in a different reality if we make different choices or "fate" aligns just right for whatever reason.There were some very funny moments, especially when Hannah let loose with his version of Pythons "Meaning of Life".
The story shows two parallel lives of Helen: in one life, she stays with her boyfriend Gerry (John Lynch), and in the other life, she finds that Gerry cheats her with Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and falls in love with James Hammerton (John Hannah).
It is very interesting that in 1998, two movies presented similar concepts of different situations depending on a minor event: "Sliding Doors" and "Lola Rennt".
This movie is quite magical and does the best it can to get Gwyneth Paltrow through her parallel universes and see the things that one would see.
This movie will make you think for years on end, Just that one little thing could change your life for good.This movie is running to stories of Helen Quilley who has just been fired of her work place for drinking the night before has she rushes to the train station, while go down the stairs a little girl get in the way and she goes around girl and train door shut in face.Then we see the movie rewind and she back on top the stairs this time mum pulls the girl way from wall so she can get past, just about got on to the train, in this scene we can she her on train also on outside train.From here we see both side of stories, we see how life would have been if she did catch the train and we can also see what would have happened if she missed the Train.
This genuinely lovely film was such a pleasure to watch.The charters were well written and so different from each other which blended well in the film,and the chemistry between the main actors John and Gwyneth was evident which helps a great deal when playing out a love story.The acting was very well done and Gwyneth's accent superb-let's face it so many actors have tried and gotten it terribly wrong.I thought John Hannah Was brilliant in this movie and any warm blooded woman like myself fell in love with him immediately,and subsequently yelled "kiss him Helen" at the screen-or was that just me?And as for Russell-he has without a doubt the funniest laugh in a movie ever-a pee my self laughing at all of his scenes.The only qualms I had with this movie was that i found the Helen misses the train parts of the film quite dull-I would've happily watched a film with just the progressive and eventual relationship with James and Helen.John Hannah definitely stole the show though and I'm sure amassed a league of female fans.If you do fancy the pants off him as i do then you must see him in the film 'circus'.phwoaah he is soooo sexy in it and its a great film with loads of twists to its plot..
This, arguably, is her finest hour as this is a romantic movie with a rare intelligence and a daring approach to telling its story.Paltrow plays Helen, a twenty-something PR executive living with her writer-boyfriend Gerry (John Lynch) in London.
It's more of a serious study into relationships than a hilarious dual-layered comedy - it's not exactly "There's Something About Mary", still my favourite rom-com.There aren't many films like "Sliding Doors" out there.
It's definitely a chick-flick (like most of my Better Half's DVD collection) but I would still just about recommend "Sliding Doors", purely because it's a refreshing change from the norm.
A movie like this really makes you think about things...What if this film was really as good as people keep saying?What if Gwyneth could fake an English accent without sounding like a member of the royal family?What if it was believable that a weasel like Jerry would have TWO women chasing after him?What if they had cast better actors?What if the ending didn't make me feel like ripping my hair out?What if I hadn't wasted my money on such a pathetic movie?.
Howitt apparently had the idea for the film when he was almost run over by a car, the whole "what if?" situation worked around his mind and ended up being Sliding Doors.
Hannah and Paltrow are superb, he is funny, charming and utterly beguiling, yet a world away from the normal pretty boy types so favoured by film makers.
It does look slightly dated though, but that's mostly to do with things like fashion and technology.I must admit I did find the premise of this film quite interesting; how just a couple of seconds at a crucial moment can make drastic changes to a life did intrigue me.
It did leave me with a few questions by the end and I see that as a good thing; there were certain things open to interpretation and any film that does that is always going to be worth a look, in my view.
It is the great performances by all the cast, a brilliant idea, and a witty script that make this film a classic in its genre in my opinion.As with the best comedy, there is also tragedy that befalls the players in this drama, and you end up realising how complicated life is and how fate plays a big part in our lives.As someone who hates rom coms, I have to say that Sliding Doors is still one of my favourite films, and I watch it whenever it comes on the TV.
simply in word word,a must see movie for real movie lovers.as far as i am concerned,i liked this for many reasons.firstly,the basic story is different for regular movies.everybody at some points of life feel what if i did that instead of this?and this movie shows the answer.i can say its enjoyable and funny even though its a drama.and secondly,it shows whatever is destined to happen,it will happen.the same thing is proved here.as we see the ending.this is the movie which cant be made again as this is never before and i can say never after kind.this is best after pulpfiction for me as both has same motive-experimentation and different.
and I suppose the Comedy referred to in the classification is meant to be "Human Comedy"The cast is excellent, the editing is very good - considering the scenario.I dont care for the ending but sometimes life takes those turns.Guys..
When Helen gets home, she sees her boyfriend, Gerry (John Lynch) in bed with his ex-girlfriend, Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and Helen quickly ends her relationship with Gerry and forms a new, loving one with James.The other possibility is that, Helen misses the train, gets robbed and a nasty cut, goes to hospital and by the time she arrives at home Gerry is already in the shower.
And will you end up in the same place if you take a different road?This is what this movie makes you think about.It is an excellent concept, followed through with great direction and acting.It has incredible acting and it was nice to see someone who could actually pull off a credible English accent and do it as well as Gwyneth Paltrow did.Definitely worth watching at least once and just as charming when you watch it the second time..
In the beginning of the movie I felt a bit sorry for Helens ex-boyfriend but in the end I despited him and almost hated him-excellent acting!
("Gimme a Happy Ending" proves once again a way to win my heart!)Jeanne Tripplehorn plays her normal annoying character to the hilt...you LOVED to hate her as always!
If you don't over-analyze the plot and just enjoy it like a good Star Trek episode, accepting the premise, it's excellent and can hold one's attention until the very end...and beyond.Truly excellent "best friend" supporting roles are played by Turner and McFerran.
I was impressed with the casting, Paltrow was excellent as were the two leading males, and it appeared that a great deal of thought went into all aspects of the film, unlike so many over-billed blockbusters.
(I am watching the movie for the second time in a day just because I like how light-hearted it is without being disgusting..
Gwyneth Paltrow and John Hannah give great performances, although I didn't think that highly of John Lynch.
You can say this is well done romantic comedy abouta woman named Helen fighting through her life, but you can also say that this film is about destiny - You can not change it.
It was a good story with some stupid English jokes.But the story shows the influence of the coincidence.It was an original story and a movie you let your thinking about the life.Maybe 2 or 3 times is enough to see this movie because there are not interesting details.Its all about the whole movie and about the whole story.You cant miss 1 minute because you need every minute in order to understand the story and the movie.In fact its a producer with a beautiful mind who made this movie.He must have a great fantasy and a great view on the life.I cant compare this movie with others movies.Its the only movie I have seen about the coincidence.Its all about coincidence, but coincidence cares.Coincidence makes every situation of your life and every success or bad luck..
The idea is fresh, but slightly self-defeating: we never know "what if", in life, there are no second chances, and so Paltrow's character is hard to truly care for; like Lara Croft, she is rendered invulnerable (and hence slightly inhuman) through the curse of having too many lives.
Most of it is standard faire: London girl Helen (Paltrow) has to choose between puppy-eyed loser Gerry (John Lynch) and Good Guy James (John Hannah).
Yes, I love this movie and I think actress Gwyneth Paltrow and actor John Hannah were made for each other.
This is a good movie, with an ingenious plot, that is surprisingly easy to follow (that the "two" Gwyneth has different hair styles help a lot in this regard).
Paltrow and Hannah are very charming, and without them the movie would not have been nearly as good.
Now I'm glad I didn't fork out the 10 bucks or so when it was in theatres.Perhaps it's because I don't belong in the target demographic for this film, but I found it to be so awful that I couldn't watch it beyond the first 20 minutes or so, and I love movies - have since childhood.The script was trite, Paltrow's accent was painful, and obviously a mish-mash of several locations, Hannah looked embarrassed (and well he should be), and what was John Lynch doing in a turkey like this?
An engaging premise, gently witty script, well filmed and very well played.The one fly in the ointment is a truly irritating performance by Gwyneth Paltrow.
"Sliding Doors" is a mess of a film, but it gets points for attempting to be good.
Basically Gwyneth Paltrow (after "getting the sack") either makes her train or doesn't, and then either catches her boyfriend "shagging" an old flame or arrives home just after the other woman has left the premises.
Gwyneth Paltrow's performance is spot-on as a British businesswoman who misses a train on her way home from work, thereby not arriving home in time to find her boyfriend in bed with another woman.
After seeing this movie, I had to go and look up how tall Gwyneth Paltrow is, because it's the first time I've watched a film and thought "my God, this girl is bigger than *both* her boyfriends".
Not that there's anything particularly terrible about that; the trouble is, the problems don't end there.Which is a pity, since it had a good idea and a hell of a cast; just not the right one, unfortunately.Take Gwyneth Paltrow's accent: For an American, she does a damn good job of "English"; the thing is, an English actress would have done so much better.
Fun, delightful, and never dull, Sliding Doors follows the life of a woman who misses ( and takes) a train to work.
Sliding Door's story is cleverly devised with the "If only" scenario, where Londoner Helen (Gwyneth who's really good in this) who's been having a sh.t of a day, after she's fired.
Flynn as the cheating arsehole, and ex boyfriend, Nick, is really good like his co-stars, playing a rather pathetic, yet funny great character.
Both paths are very interesting, and the movie does a great job of seamlessly letting you know which path you are watching at any point in time.
SLIDING DOORSThis was better than I expected.The film is about a girl who gets fired from her job
and on the way home as she is walking down to the tube to catch her train a little girl makes her late and she misses her train
but we also see what would happen if she caught the train.
There are the odd cheesy moment, but nowhere near as much as most romantic movies have.Sliding Doors stars a young Gwyneth Paltrow.
It is funny to think that the guy from the classic TV show Bread, Peter Howitt, wrote and directed this.I will give this film 7 out of 10."I could never love a Baywatch fan"For more reviews, please like my Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ordinary-Person-Movie- Reviews/456572047728204?ref=hl.
The thing that impressed me the most was the clear sensation that the film created a little place i can visit and hide for a little, like if i was visiting the possible reality the sliding doors created for Gwyneth.
Then came "Sliding doors." It's catching enough to actually watch and care about Gwyneth Paltrow's life as Helen.
I personally thought Sliding Doors was an extremely good film.
Boring, pretentious, stars Gwyneth Paltrow, who I am liking less and less after each movie.
A movie that girls will enjoy if they like romantic and hopeful type of films about love and the big question of what if...
Sliding Doors is one of those films that has a very clever concept you don't come across very often - so watch it.
The acting is definitely above average, Gwyneth Paltrow gives a great performance, making the audience feel sorry for her didn't-catch-the-train character, and then thinking, "go girl!" for her character that DID catch the train.
This was a film that was funny, realistic, tender and warming.Helen (Paltrow)and James (Hannah) are portrayed as very real people living in modern London.
I had no advance idea what this film was about, so sat down to watch it with an open mind, and with a tendency to like Gwyneth Paltrow.
It's a film of two stories; in one Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) gets fired, meets a man, goes home and finds her boyfriend shagging another.
plot 2: Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) gets fired, misses the underground, comes home later, doesn't find boyfriend with another, so stays with him and continues boring life, until she finds out he's having this affair.
The interesting part about the film is the ending; where the the two stories become one and we are again at one of the first scenes. |
tt0990407 | The Green Hornet | Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) is the son of LA's most prominent and respected media magnate and perfectly happy to maintain a directionless existence on the party scene until his father James Reid (Tom Wilkinson) mysteriously dies, leaving Britt his vast media empire. Britt knows next to nothing about his father's newspaper "The Daily Sentinel" or background, and without his father finds himself at a loss with the newspaper's employees, meetings, or even how to manage his own goals. After firing almost all his father's personal servants in the house, he eventually recalls one that he only knows as having been responsible for making his coffee, Kato (Jay Chou). For the newspaper, he hires a new secretary named Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz).The industrious and inventive Kato had long been working on the prized cars James owned. Finding their love of cars a common ground, the two begin an unlikely friendship. Both agreeing that James had been a man of harsh temper, Britt decides to do something impulsive and settles on decapitating a public statue of his father. With Kato hidden in a car and Britt himself masked with a green cloth, he succeeds, but spots a street robbery taking place. Britt tries to help the victims but finds himself overwhelmed, and Kato sees his employer fleeing from several armed men. Kato quickly analyzes the situation, fights them off and drives a very impressed Britt home. With the incident they see their chance to do something meaningful for the first time in their lives: fight crime.Britt takes a leading role because of his bolder personality, and the two agree that to get close to the criminals they'll pose as criminals themselves. This way, their enemies would be less likely to suspect their identities or try using hostages to take advantage. Kato, using all his ingenuity and skill, builds advanced retro weaponry including his pride 'Black Beauty', an indestructible car equal parts firepower and horsepower. To spread their fame, Britt leaves the criminals he meets a business card with an email to contact who the press had dubbed 'The Green Hornet', a name Kato had suggested in a meeting with Britt's top press executives. To get an idea of plans and keeping their criminal cover, Britt tells Lenore to research and predict the Green Hornet's criminal behaviours, he himself uses his newspaper to spread news of the infamous new criminal.Protecting the law by breaking it, Britt becomes the vigilante the Green Hornet as he and Kato hit the streets. Rolling in a mobile fortress on wheels and striking the bad guys with Kato's clever gadgets, the Green Hornet and Kato quickly start making a name for themselves, but tensions soon arise between the pair. Kato is tired of being ignored in the media and being dismissed as the 'nameless thug', and Britt's obsession with his leading role causes him to belittle and mock Kato as the weaker sidekick. As the two grow fonder of Lenore, tensions erupt into a fight that nearly ends with Kato's death, and his dismissal from Britt's employ. Kato finds no sympathy from Lenore, who has also been fired by Britt due to his suspicions about an affair between her and Kato.Without his usual support, Britt starts to associate with the runner up for District Attorney, Scanlon (David Harbour), a man who had indicated he wanted control of Britt's newspaper in exchange for 'compensation'. Scanlon's uncompromising stance clashes with Britt's temper, and the two leave each other in a rage. Lenore however believes that journalism is all about hearing all sides, so Britt eventually agrees to meet up with Scanlon. What he doesn't know is that an email had been sent to the Green Hornet, and Kato sees that the vigilante had been hired to kill Britt Reid publicly in a restaurant.At the restaurant, Scanlon tells Britt about his plans to control the media and become D.A., finally admitting that he had been responsible for James's death. Britt shows him a USB he had used to record the entire conversation, but Scanlon is unmoved. As it turns out, Kato in his masked persona had arrived to the restaurant and met with Benjamin Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz), the man who controls LA's gritty underworld, and the one who had hired him for the assassination. Kato appears in the restaurant and points a gun at Britt's head, scaring the other customers away, but for once Britt does not act recklessly in a tense situation. Finally apologizing for his behaviour to the other man, Britt convinces Kato of his sincerity, and the two turn against Scanlon before Chudnofsky's men appear. The two escape together, and Chudnofsky realizes that Britt himself is the Green Hornet. With Scanlon and many other gang members, they all set out in pursuit of the Black Beauty.Inside the Black Beauty, Britt assumes his Green Hornet identity while Kato heads for the newspaper offices, intending to upload the recording of Scanlon's confession to the public. Chased on all sides by Chudnofsky's men who all had their own cars and guns, Black Beauty receives a beating but takes the two vigilantes safely to the office, where things descended into chaos as the remaining employees and most of the building's structure and machines get in the way of Black Beauty, Chudnofsky's men, and the police that eventually arrive to the scene. When they finally reach Britt's office, Kato holds off their enemies while Britt tries to upload the data. To his horror, there is no recorded data to be uploaded. He does not stay still for long, after seeing Chudnofsky holding Kato at gunpoint, Britt takes up Kato's mentioned training and clearly analyzes the situation before rushing in to help. Though unable to incapacitate Chudnofsky he does take several mobsters out of commission, and in the distraction Kato blinds Chudnofsky. Before they could take care of Scanlon, the police arrives, and Scanlon quickly identifies himself and tells them to shoot the vigilantes.Unwilling to let Scanlon escape and let their identities be exposed, the Green Hornet chooses to flee the scene, but not without taking Scanlon down. Crashing what remained of the Black Beauty into Scanlon and out the window, Britt and Kato escape through the injecter seats that, amusingly enough, Britt once jokingly suggested Kato make. Their escape is not completely smooth, for Britt had taken a bullet wound and is unable to go to the hospital without arousing suspicion, so they head to Lenore's home. After beating and pepper-spraying them, Lenore learns their identities and tries to help remove the bullet, but without proper equipment Britt is wary of the procedure. Together, the three of them hatch a plan.The next day, Britt Reid holds a press conference, claiming that the criminal Green Hornet had destroyed the office in his successful attempt to take Scanlon's life. Black Beauty suddenly bursts into the area and a masked Kato announces that the Green Hornet sends the Reid family his regards, before shooting Britt and fleeing the scene. Lenore accompanies Britt to the hospital to treat his bullet wound, while a police car chases after the Green Hornet's infamous black car. Kato's latest innovation is revealled as the car switches to a white colour to throw off police suspicion, before returning to a black colour once the police car passed.Sometime later, Britt, in his Green Hornet outfit, arrives at Kato's house saying that they have a secret mission and that everything before was total crap, and that this mission was all that mattered.The mission: reattaching the head to the statue of James Reid. | murder, violence, flashback, action, revenge, entertaining | train | imdb | null |
tt0070239 | Jesus Christ Superstar | The camera pans across a landscape of desert hills dotted with stone ruins ("Overture"). A plume of dust in the distance resolves into a red and white bus that stops and disgorges a troupe of actors. The actors unpack costumes and props, including a large wooden cross. They dance around Ted Neeley, who will play Jesus, and dress him in a white robe. The actors, some still dancing, deploy themselves around the ruins of what might have been a temple.As Jesus talks with a group of followers, Judas (Carl Anderson) watches from a distance and worries ("Heaven on their Minds"). He's afraid that Jesus is beginning to believe what people are saying about him -- that he's God. He's also afraid that Jesus' followers will turn on him when they find that he isn't God, and that the Romans who occupy Judea will come down on them if they perceive Jesus' growing following as a threat to their rule.In the cave where Jesus and his followers are staying, the apostles ask when they're going to Jerusalem ("What's the Buzz?"). Jesus puts them off ("Don't you try to think ahead / Save tomorrow for tomorrow / Think about today instead"). Mary Magdalene (Yvonne Elliman), seeing that Jesus is hot and tired, tries to soothe him by bathing his face with cool water, which Jesus appreciates ("She alone has tried to give me / What I need right here and now"). Judas steps in to say he thinks it strange "that a man like you / Can waste his time / On women of her kind." Jesus responds angrily ("Who are you to criticize her?") ("Strange Thing Mystifying").Caiaphas (Bob Bingham) the high priest discusses Jesus with his associate Annas (Kurt Yaghjian). Like Judas, Caiaphas believes that Jesus' popularity will bring down the wrath of the Romans. He mentions talk of crowning Jesus king. They agree to take the matter to the priests' council ("Then We Are Decided").Back at the cave, Mary sings to Jesus to relax him ("Everything's Alright") and rubs ointment on his head and feet. Judas interrupts to scold Mary for wasting money on expensive ointment when it could have been used to help the poor. Jesus points out that they can't help everyone ("Surely you're not saying / We have the resources / To save the poor from their lot? / There will be poor always, / Pathetically struggling. / Look at the good things you've got!") He adds that he'll soon be gone, a warning that no one but Judas seems to notice.In council, Caiaphas tells the other priests that Jesus is a danger to the nation, concluding "Like John [the Baptist] before him / This Jesus must die" ("This Jesus Must Die").Jesus is carried into Jerusalem by cheering, palm-waving crowds ("Hosanna"). Caiaphas advises Jesus to disperse the mob because they're too loud. "Nothing can be done to stop the shouting," Jesus replies joyfully; "If every tongue was stilled the noise would still continue / The rocks and stones themselves would start to sing."Later, in a big dance number, followers led by Simon Zealotes (Larry Marshall) tell Jesus how much they love him; at first he smiles at the crowd and laps it up. Simon urges Jesus to "Keep them yelling their devotion / But add a touch of hate at Rome" ... "You'll get the power and the glory / Forever and ever and ever" ("Simon Zealotes"). Jesus loses his smile while Judas looks on anxiously; this is the sort of thing Judas most fears. Some Roman soldiers march up and stop to watch, but Simon and his crowd are too wrapped up in their hero worship to notice. In a somber mood, Jesus tells the people -- and Mary, who kneels at his feet -- that none of them understand power and glory, and "To conquer death / You only have to die" ("Poor Jerusalem"). Simon is deeply puzzled.Pontius Pilate (Barry Dennen), a Roman official, sings of a dream in which he met "a Galilean, a most amazing man. / He had that look you very rarely find, / The haunting, hunted kind." Pilate foresees that he'll be blamed for the death of the Galilean in his dream ("Pilate's Dream").Jesus visits the temple, which is like a modern-day flea market with modern-day merchandise (postcards, hand grenades) -- plus money lenders, of course. And prostitutes. Becoming angry ("My temple should be a house of prayer / But you have made it a den of thieves!"), Jesus runs around dumping tables and knocking over stalls ("The Temple"). Judas, again, watches in dismay. The vendors and customers flee. Jesus walks off into the hills, perhaps to calm down, but is accosted among the rocks by a crowd of the blind, halt, and sick, who beg to be healed. At first he reaches out to them, but he's unable to help them all and the mob seems to swallow him. He finally screams "leave me alone!"Meeting Jesus as he walks back to their camp, Mary wraps him in a tattered blanket and sings to him as he lies down under a tent ("Everything's Alright (Reprise)"). As he sleeps, she muses about her love for Jesus, which confuses and frightens her ("I Don't Know How to Love Him"). "I'm the one / Who's always been / So calm, so cool / No lover's fool ... I never thought I'd come to this."Judas seems to be agonizing over something; he squats in an empty landscape, letting sand run through his fingers. When a row of Roman tanks appears over the crest of the hill and bears down on him, he runs to the temple. He's there to betray Jesus, but tries first to explain his motives to the uninterested priests ("Damned for All Time/Blood Money"). All they want to know is where the soldiers can find Jesus at a time when he's not surrounded by crowds. Caiaphas offers Judas a fee ("We'll pay you in silver / Cash on the nail"), which Judas turns down ("I don't want your blood money") until Caiaphas points out that Judas can give the money to the poor -- he knows exactly which buttons to press. Judas takes the bag of money and says that Jesus will be in the Garden of Gethsemane on Thursday night.In the Garden of Gethsemane, the apostles are feeling mellow ("Look at all my trials and tribulations / Sinking in a gentle pool of wine") and Jesus is feeling sorry for himself -- not without reason, given what he seems to know is about to happen to him. "For all you care, this wine could be my blood," he says. (His petulance is a brilliant way to explain the rather odd, cannibalistic ideas behind the Eucharist.) He goes on to predict that "one of you here dining" will soon betray Jesus and another will deny knowing him. Judas exchanges some bitter words with Jesus before going off to bring the soldiers. The remaining apostles fall asleep and Jesus asks, "will no one wait with me? Peter? John? James?" ("The Last Supper").Jesus goes for a walk to commune with God ("Gethsemane (I Only Want to Say)"). He asks whether he has to go through with his death, and asks to know the reason for it ("You're far too keen on where and how / But not so hot on why"). If God replies, it's not evident.Judas comes back with soldiers and identifies Jesus for them with his famous betraying kiss. Peter and the other apostles wake up and offer to defend Jesus ("Hang on lord, we're gonna fight for you"), but Jesus tells them "it's all over" and to "stick to fishing from now on" ("The Arrest"). The soldiers march Jesus back to the city, attracting a crowd as they go. Curious bystanders and journalists question him as he walks ("Do you think that you may retire? / Did you think you would get much higher? / How do you view your coming trial?"). Jesus doesn't answer. The soldiers take Jesus to Caiaphas, who asks if he's really the son of God. Jesus doesn't deny it, only replying "that's what you say." The crowd demands, "take him to Pilate!"Peter, Mary, and another disciple stop at a camp along the road for water. A woman, a soldier, and an old man all recognize Peter ("you were with that man they took away"), but each time Peter claims not to know Jesus ("Peter's Denial"). Mary says sadly, "It's what he told us you would do. / I wonder how he knew."Jesus is frog-marched into the presence of Pilate, who makes fun of him, asks him if he's really king of the Jews, and dismisses his case to Herod ("Pilate and Christ"). King Herod (Josh Mostel), surrounded by wildly costumed, dancing courtiers, twits Christ in his turn. In "King Herod's Song (Try It and See)", he offers to let Jesus go if he'll perform a miracle. ("Prove to me that you're divine -- / Change my water into wine!") When Jesus fails to respond, Herod declares him a fraud and sends him away.Mary Magdalen and Peter, standing on a stark mountainside overlooking the desert, wish for things to go back to the way they were before Jesus was arrested ("Could We Start Again, Please?"). They're backed by a crowd of followers. Jesus (who isn't really there, of course) turns and walks off into the desert.Jesus is taken back to Pilate, where the priests ask that Jesus be sentenced to death ("We need him crucified / It's all you have to do"). Pilate resists, saying Christ has committed no crime worthy of death and asking Jesus to defend himself. The crowd gets so agitated that Pilate agrees to flog Jesus ("Trial Before Pilate (Including the 39 Lashes)"). But it's not enough. Faced with an incipient riot and Jesus' insistence that nothing Pilate can do will prevent his death, a frustrated Pilate says "die if you want to, you misguided martyr!" and washes his hands.Soldiers throw Jesus into a pit, where Judas peers down at him until he's pushed away by a guard. Judas goes back to the priests to complain about how badly Christ has been treated, saying he'd save him the suffering if he could. Annas and Caiaphas tell Judas that events have unfolded just as he predicted, and "What you have done / Will be the saving of Israel." Judas isn't comforted and continues, in a song that includes a brief reprise of "I Don't Know how to Love Him," to berate himself for the betrayal. Overcome with remorse, Judas hangs himself from a tree ("Judas' Death").In another fantasy sequence, Judas descends from a star (lowered by a visible crane) to speak to Jesus, who is alone in the amphitheater where the trial was held. Judas points out that Jesus could have spread his message more easily if he'd come today ("Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication"). He asks Jesus why he chose "such a backward time / And such a strange land?" ("Superstar.")On a hilltop where two men have already been crucified, soldiers are pounding nails into something on the ground. They raise a cross on which Jesus is hanging, crowned with thorns. They jeer, but Jesus asks God to forgive them. A few of Jesus' followers, including a grief-stricken Mary, watch from below. The soldiers raise a ladder and nail a board to the cross above Jesus' head. It's just possible to make out the letters INRI on the board; they stand for Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum -- Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews. Jesus asks, "my God, my God, why have you forgotten me?", and says "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." He dies.As the film ends, the performers, out of costume, reboard their bus. Last come Yvonne Elliman (Mary) and Carl Anderson (Judas); there's no sign of Jesus. Ted Neeley stripped away his costume and disappeared into the cast beforehand. The bus drives off. The final shot shows the empty cross against a setting sun, as a shepherd and his flock cross the hillside ("John 19:41"). | psychedelic, boring | train | imdb | null |
tt0046268 | Le salaire de la peur | 1950, in the very isolated town of Las Piedras, in Southern Mexico. Surrounded by the desert, the town is very poor, and also very quiet in the very hot midday sun. Located in the only street of the town, the bar «Corsario» is the meeting place for all the European who, for various reasons, found their way here and can't get away from the town. Seated on chairs, but not drinking because they have no money, Frenchmen Mario (Yves Montand), German Smerloff (Jo Dest), American Dick and Italian Bernardo (Luis de Lima) are looking at the very few people walking in the street. The owner of the «Corsario», Hernandez (Dario Moreno), eventually kicks them out of his bar.Mario is mildly in love with Linda (Véra Clouzot), the waitress of the bar, who is also having sex with Hernandez. Another european, Bimba (Peter van Eyck), a Dutchman, is doing some menial work for Hernandez, like collecting the mail from the daily plane, the only link of Las Piedras with the outside world. Bernardo sneaks into Bimba's van, because he is always trying to find a pilot who would take him to the USA, a country for which he is holding a valid visa.A very elegant Frenchman, Jo (Charles Vanel) is among the passengers leaving the plane. Actually he is another european running away from something. He discreetly gives a few dollars to the immigration officer, who lets him walk out of the airport without a visa. He takes a taxi to the town, where he meets Mario. The two exiled compatriots immediately make friends with each other. We learn that Jo is from Paris, and Mario from Corsica. Jo explains to Mario that he gave his last dollars to the immigration officer, and Mario takes him to the «Corsario», where Hernandez, because of Jo's elegant outfit, thinks he is rich and pays for his taxi. Jo discreetly explains to Mario that he had to leave Paris very quickly, and didn't even had time to pack a suitcase.Mario leaves Jo in the «Corsario» to go to the small apartment he shares with Luigi (Folco Lulli), and eat the lunch Luigi has been fixing for both of them. Luigi is an Italian, who, unlike the other european expatriates, has a job : he works as a mason.Then Mario goes back to the «Corsario», to share a Cognac with Jo. All the other european expatriates seem to be jealous of Mario's new friend. Jo, who doesn't like music, shut off the radio, but Smerloff switch it back on. Jo asks Hernandez to switch it off. Feeling offended, the expatriates leave the bar, making Hernandez very happy.When they are gone, Mario tells Jo how difficult it is to get a job in this poor isolated town. The plane being the only way to leave the town, and the plane being very expensive, the expatriates have no alternative than to stay and wait. There is little opportunity for employment aside from the American corporation that dominates the town, Southern Oil Company (SOC), which operates the nearby oil fields and owns a walled compound within the town. SOC is suspected of unethical practices such as exploiting local workers and taking the law into its own hands, but the townspeople's dependence upon it is such that they suffer in silence.But Jo knows the man in charge of SOC in Las Piedras, Bill O'Brien (William Tubbs). They have being doing some not very legal stuff together a long time ago. And Jo goes to see him in his office. But O'Brien can't do a thing for his old pal without risking to loose his own job, because the Big Bosses of SOC would certainly get to know what Jo and Bill had done together in the past.Within the following days, Jo and Mario become very close, which gets Luigi a bit jealous. And he is not the only one to be jealous. Linda also feels that Mario neglects her for Jo. But Luigi gets real mad when Mario gives Jo one of Luigi's white trousers, after Jo's trousers got ruined by mud. Mario decides not to live anymore with Luigi, but, before leaving, he takes with him his most precious possession, the last subway ticket he used when he left Paris.In the evening, Luigi walks in the «Corsario» wearing his best suit, and sits at the expatriates' table, ignoring the other table, where Jo and Mario are sitting alone. He orders Champagne, and asks Linda to dance with him. Jo tears the cord off the radio to stop the music, but Luigi keeps on dancing and clapping his hands, imitated by all the other expatriates, except, of course, Jo and Mario. Jo takes the bottle of Champagne, shakes it violently, and then uncorks it and sprays the Champagne on Luigi and his friends. Luigi wants to hit Jo with the empty bottle, but Jo points a gun at him. Then, to push him to his limit, Jo gives him the gun and slaps his face, but Luigi just drops the gun and leaves the bar.A massive fire erupts at one of the SOC oil fields. O'Brien knows that the only way to extinguish the flames is to cut the fire at its base with an explosion caused by nitroglycerine. But the 200 gallons stock of nitroglycerine is at La Piedras, and not at the oil field. With such a short notice and the lack of proper equipment, the explosive must be transported inside regulars jerry cans on the two best trucks available at the SOC headquarters and then driven 300 miles away. Due to the poor condition of the roads and the highly volatile nature of nitroglycerine, the job is considered too dangerous for the unionized SOC employees. So O'Brien is going to ask some of the european expatriates of Las Piedras to drive the trucks. But, against the cynical advice of one of his assistants, he is going to give each driver $2000 to drive the trucks ($2000 in 1950 would be almost $20000 in 2015).All the expatriates pass a driving test. Even Luigi, who just learned that his lungs are full of cement, and that he has to stop working as a mason or he will die very soon. The first one to pass the test is Bernardo. He is driving a small truck with O'Brien sitting next to him and all the other men gathered at the back of the truck. One of the men throws his jacket on the windshield and Bernardo, frightened, slams on the breaks. Only four men get the job : Bimba, Luigi, Mario and Smerloff. All the men leave O'Brien's office except Jo, who is a bit mad not to have been picked up by his old «friend». O'Brien tells him that Jo is like him : a bit too old for that kind of job, but he also tells him that if one of the drivers desists at the last minute, he will get the job.Hernandez offers a drink to the drivers. Bernardo trusts a letter for his mother to Linda for her to mail it the next morning, and then he goes out the bar and hangs himself on a tree in the garden.At 3:00 am next morning, Mario, Bimba and Luigi are gathered in O'Brien's office, waiting for Smerloff. Jo walks in to say good-bye to Mario, and looks genuinely surprised about Smerloff's absence. Luigi points out he was the last one who was seen with Smerloff going out of the «Corsario». O'Brien, who knows Jo very well, understands that Smerloff has been killed by Jo, and, a bit reluctantly, gives him the driving job.Jo and Mario take the bigger truck and leave first, the second truck leaving half an hour later for safety reason. But, before leaving, Jo checks meticulously his truck, to O'Brien's annoyance. Eventually Jo climbs in the truck and Mario gives him his lucky subway ticket. Then Jo starts the truck and slowly leaves the SOC yard. They cross Las Piedras still asleep, except for Linda who climbs on the truck footboard to say good-bye to Mario, who kicks her away from the truck. Jo doesn't feel very good and thinks that his malaria may be coming back, but he doesn't want Mario to drive.After only 17 kilometers (10,5 miles) of very slow driving, Jo decides to stop the truck and eat something, but Mario sees the other truck already coming behind them and tells Jo they must leave at once. Jo starts driving again but he feels worse and worse and even vomits the coffee Mario gave him. They stop the truck and the other truck joins them. Luigi has some very harsh words for Jo, and then decides it's better for him and Bimba to take the lead.Luigi and Bimba reach what is called «the washboard». Outside the forest, where there are no trees to protect the road, the surface of the road has been wrinkled by the wind. For the trucks not to bounce on the road, they have to drive at forty miles an hour minimum or at less than six miles an hour, the best solution being of course to drive at forty.While Luigi is keeping the speed above forty, the engine starts having problems, and they have to use a length of concrete near a pipe-line pump to stop the truck. They find that the problem with the engine is due to some gas-oil having been added to the regular gasoline normally used by this type of truck. They put some fresh pure gasoline in the tank, but they realize that the length of concrete is too short to bring the truck to forty mph, so they have to drive the rest of the «washboard» at very slow speed. Before leaving, Luigi puts his large white handkerchief on the concrete for Mario and Jo to see it as a warning signal for danger. But, as soon as they are gone, a local kid steals the handkerchief.Meanwhile, Jo is falling apart because of his fear, and he can't bring the truck to forty mph, so Mario decides to drive. He crosses the length of concrete at forty mph, while the kid waves to them with the stolen handkerchief. As they come near the end of the «washboard» section, they see the headlights of the other truck in the distance. But Luigi's truck can't go above seven mph and Mario's truck can't go under 40 mph, or both trucks start vibrating. But fortunately, at the last seconds, Luigi's truck reaches the end of the washboard and can speed up.Luigi's truck starts climbing a mountain with many hairpin turns. One of them is so tight that they have to maneuver the truck and use a wooden platform built near the road. But the wood is partly rotten, and the truck almost breaks through the platform. They eventually succeed their maneuver and resume their journey on the road.When Jo sees the rotten platform, he wants to give up, but Mario gets real mad at him and forces him to help him and guide him while he maneuvers the truck. But Jo runs away in the mountain, and Mario has to do the whole maneuver by himself. When he eventually drives back on the road, the rotten platform collapses behind him. He starts driving away, without Jo, who runs after him on the road. Mario eventually takes Jo back on board, but he is very mad at him, and tells him very precisely what he thinks about him and his cowardice.A huge boulder, which fell from the mountain, blocks the road. Bimba asks Luigi to dig a hole, about 30 inches deep, in the boulder, while he's going to siphon about one liter of nitroglycerine out of a can, and into a Thermos bottle. Mario and Jo join them, and Bimba asks them to move both trucks as far as possible from the boulder. Then they all hide behind rocks far away from the boulder, except Bimba. Very slowly, he pours the explosive into the hole in the boulder. Then he ties a hammer above the hole with a long wick. With his cigarette, he lights the end of the wick and runs to hide behind a rock. The boulder explodes. Bimba, Luigi and Mario congratulate each other and, to celebrate, they go and take a piss together, not even saying a word to Jo, who pisses alone.Luigi is driving his truck, while Bimba is shaving and telling Luigi about his father being murdered by the Nazis, and himself being forced to work for three years in a salt mine. Meanwhile, Jo, who calmed down a bit, is rolling a cigarette for Mario, when they see an explosion further away on the road. They immediately understand it's Luigi and Bimba's truck. Jo runs out of the truck, but Mario catches him back, hits him very hard and brings him back to the truck.Mario and Jo arrive at the scene of the explosion only to find a large crater rapidly filling with oil from a pipeline ruptured in the blast. Jo walks in front of the truck to help Mario navigate through the oil-filled crater. The truck, however, is in danger of becoming bogged down and during his frantic attempts to prevent it from getting stuck, Mario runs over Jo. Although Mario ultimately succeeds in getting the truck out of the the muck, Jo is mortally wounded. He dies just before they reach the burning oil field. On his arrival at the oil field, Mario is hailed as a hero, but he collapses from exhaustion when he gets out of the truck.Upon his recovery, Mario heads home in the same truck, now empty. The SOC gives him double wages, his and Jo's. Mario jubilantly drives down the mountain road, while a party is being held at the «Corsario», where Mario's friends eagerly await his arrival. The radio plays Johann Strauss' «The Blue Danube», both at the «Corsario» and in Mario's truck. Linda dances with Mario's friends and Mario dances recklessly with his truck. He takes one corner too fast and plunges through the guardrail to his death, holding his lucky subway ticket in his hand. At the same moment, Linda, as if she knew what just happened, suddenly faints in the arms of the man she was dancing with. | suspenseful, realism | train | imdb | null |
tt0065088 | They Shoot Horses, Don't They? | A young boy by the name of Robert sees his hillbilly father shoot a horse with a broken leg to put it out of its misery.Years later, it's the Great Depression, the 1930's. Robert dreamed of being a great filmmaker but is now almost broke. He decides to enter a Los Angeles dance marathon, a craze that many people are falling into in California with the promise of winning cash. It is there that he meets his first dance partner, a beautiful but caustic and bitter woman named Gloria, apparently recovering from a suicide attempt. For her, after years of bad luck with men and no money herself, the dance competition offers her false happiness. Together, she and Robert form a friendship.As the competition goes on, it becomes evident that the show host, Rocky, doesn't have much money himself and, despite showing genuine remorse about it, he frequently exploits and psychologically abuses the dancers and makes a spectacle out of them for the viewers of the show, who pay him a great deal of money every day just to get into the arena. Alice, an aspiring actress, goes into hysterics when her beloved dress is stolen, and a man's leg becomes paralyzed. When he falls unconscious, he is given castor oil and doused in ice water, and then forced to dance again. A pregnant woman dances and has to race with her husband around a track, often becoming exhausted and collapsing.Gloria becomes frustrated and snaps at Robert, jealous of the attention he gives to Alice, who bears a resemblance to Marilyn Monroe. When Robert discovers that Rocky is the one who stole and ripped up Alice's dress, he questions him, but Rocky tells him that it's just show business, and that the spectators want to see the dancers as miserable as they themselves feel because of the Depression.During a repeated, timed race around a track, Gloria's new dance partner, an elderly sailor, has a heart attack and dies, which Rocky cheerfully covers up from the audience. Upon seeing his death, Alice has a mental breakdown, losing her mind and hiding in the shower. Rocky, having seen similar breakdowns time and time again in his business, hugs her and then walks her to the nurses on duty, where she will presumably have to be sent away to psychiatric care.When Robert and Gloria partner up again, Rocky suggests that they marry each other as a publicity stunt for the show, trying to bribe Gloria with tons of free wedding gifts. He then lets it slip that even if Gloria and Robert do win the dance competition, they'll have to pay hidden expenses and will be left with next to nothing in cash, and he cautions her to get out while she can with her dignity still intact. She and Robert leave and, both nearly penniless and dejected, they walk down to the ocean at night, a place Robert has always adored but that now does nothing for him. Gloria repeatedly breaks down and cries, and reveals that it was never really the money or material items she was after, it was the promise of happiness, something she has been longing for but has now lost forever. At the end of her rope, she tries to shoot herself in the head but can't find the courage to pull the trigger, so she pleads for Robert to do it for her. Robert shoots her and is taken in by the police (meanwhile his misery at the death of his only friend is viewed by a circle of rubberneckers from the streets, despite the police trying to block off the death site). When a cop asks Robert why he did it, Robert says, "she asked me to - they shoot horses, don't they?" before he is locked up in jail.The film ends with a view of Rocky shouting out to the crowd at the dance competition, and the crowd is cheering and laughing, while the competing dancers look miserable and depressed. | depressing, flashback | train | imdb | A brutally bleak screen adaptation of the pulpy Horace McCoy novella, about a Depression-era dance marathon where down-and-outers drive themselves to the brink of exhaustion to win the cash prize.This film has become relevant again today in the age of reality T.V., where people tune in to watch strangers be humiliated, rejected and made fun of.
The M.C. of the dance marathon, played wonderfully by Gig Young in one of his last (if not the last) film performances before the troubled actor murdered his wife and then killed himself, creates little narratives and dramas around each of the dancers, so that the audience can have their favorites to root for.
The cast of dancers is led by Jane Fonda, in a break-out role as Gloria, the jaded woman-of-the-world who's seen it all and doesn't want to see anymore; Susannah York, as a pretentious wannabe actress, who acts up a storm during a mesmerizing breakdown scene; Red Buttons, as an aging ex-serviceman who struggles to keep up with the young kids around him; and Bruce Dern and Bonnie Bedelia, as a sweet couple of country bumpkins who are desperate to win the cash for their unborn baby.
It was destroyed by fire shortly afterward.Marathon dancing was, according to most historians, as brutal and exploitive as it is depicted in "Horses." It was for that reason that this early 20th century variety of Roman coliseum culture was banned in much of the country by the late 1930s.This movie uses fictitious characters to tell a story that appears to be remarkably accurate from a historical point of view.
That includes director Sydney Pollack, who had only made a few movies until this one.The deep cast in this film did not include big-name stars but they were known celebrities: actors like Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York, Red Buttons, Bonnie Bedalia, Bruce Dern and Al Lewis.This is a sad tale of desperate people in desperate times trying to make a few extra bucks during the Great Depression years.
One became mentally exhausted just watching these poor people on screen trying to survive these "marathons."Like a lot of movies which deal with unpleasant topics, this is a haunting film that will leave you thinking about it for a long time afterward.
Jane Fonda's performance as a marathon-entry at the end of her rope ranks with her very best work, and Oscar-winner Gig Young is smashing as the M.C. Also superb: Susannah York as a glamor girl who gets her clothes (and sanity) dirty, and Red Buttons as an over-the-hill sailor.
It's a glass-half-empty microcosm of capitalism.The film's loaded with strong acting, from Red Buttons whose career as a comedian somehow deepens the desperation his character suffers, Susannah York who captures the tragedy of a woman with no insight into her loss of touch with reality, a stunningly innocent Bonnie Bedelia before she was Mrs. McClaine, from Michael Sarrazin as young man whose blow of mercy presages and caps his life, which is ultimately as insignificant as everyone else's in this society where all are subjugated, a life perhaps only significant to Gloria.
Swollen-eyed, unkempt, stinking of must and smoke, Gig Young is inspired, a pointed change from his customary gourmet roles, as the powers that be, a man arguably as cynical and misanthropic as his desperate contestants.The film's awash with rather stunning period strokes, the songs, settings, costumes language, all so unsettling in such imperative ways.
The tragic social pitfalls of financial collapse caused by the Great Depression are the culprits to spurring on these dance marathons, nevertheless, regardless of cause and effect, the show must go on!!As the movie lingers on, it portrays the desperation and apocalyptic suffering all of the major characters endure...
this is one of my all-time favorite films.jane fonda's 'gloria beatty' is one of the best heroines in movie history (along with "klute"'s 'bree daniels', her other foray into genius).sydney pollack's direction, particularly in the 'sprint' sequences, is terrific, probably the best of his career (save, perhaps, "tootsie", its emotional opposite).i once got a bartender in a gay biker club to play this on the monitors behind the music.
Now that's cinema!Director Sydney Pollack inhales the gathering gloom of a motley group of 30's Depression-era victims and spits it out against the seedy backdrop of a dance marathon, pitting one miserable soul against another in a cruel contest of endurance while exposing each of their inner tales of woe.Jane Fonda blotted out her "Barbarella" eye candy image forever with her staggering portrayal of the brutally cynical spitfire Gloria, a never-was, never-will-be actress who refuses to see blue skies ahead for herself or anybody else -- despite the outcome.
Michael Sarrazin as Fonda's partner, a calm, poetic drifter, Susannah York as the Jean Harlow-like hopeful desperate for a chance to be discovered, and Bonnie Bedelia, a pitiable, impossibly pregnant waif are the stand-out participants of this grueling nightmare, while Gig Young's award-winning emcee touchingly reminds us that not all the pathetics are hugging the floorboards.
There isn't a false note in this elegy of misery.Pollack stages the couples' interactions and dance sequences most impressively, but its the so-called racing "sprints" shot in such a blurring, whirling, surreal fashion, that highlight this film masterpiece.One of the most exhilarating and depressing movies you'll ever witness..
There is not an ounce of comedy relief and the few scenes that take place outside the dark stifling dance hall in the welcome sun serves only the despair back inside where a sentimental audience tosses coins to a pregnant Bonnie Bedelia warbling "The best things in life are free." Without any upbeat distractions the film can become an endurance of melancholy for the viewer but Pollack and company keep things highly absorbing most of the way in what might be termed a dark piece of historical nostalgia ..
Horace McCoy's novel was not cheapened,its spirit remains intact.Who cares if they added some new characters such as Alice (Susannah York's best performance)?Jane Fonda,in the role of a lifetime,is brilliant, harsh but brittle, fighting but knowing from the start that , whatever fate has in store for her , it's a fool bargain.In this dark movie,the sun never shines on the poor who go round and round in circles: the only sun they get in this terrifying world is the glittering mirror bowl in the dancing.
Jane Fonda (Oscar-nominated for the first time), Gig Young (Best Supporting Actor winner) and especially Susannah York (also Oscar-nominated, whose shower scene is a particular standout) are electrifying, with solid support from Michael Sarrazin, Red Buttons, and Bruce Dern.
So, Gloria Beatty (Jane Fonda) and Robert Syverton (Michael Sarrazin) participate in a dance marathon viewed by a bunch of people who have never experienced hardship in their lives, while all the dancers are downright desperate.The movie really lets you see what the dancers are feeling as they become more and more fatigued, all for the entertainment of their audience.
Thompson, the movie takes the semi-famous 1935 Horace McCoy novel and highlights the microcosm that the author created to show how hopeless people felt during the depths of the Depression, none more so than Gloria Beatty, the embittered and failed wannabe actress desperate to win half the $1,500 grand prize.In her breakthrough dramatic role, Jane Fonda brings an unmitigated feral quality to Gloria that must have been startling at the time since her previous two films were the lightweight "Barefoot in the Park" and the campy pin-up comic fantasy, "Barbarella".
The other standouts in the cast are a very young Bonnie Bedelia as the extremely pregnant Ruby clinging in exhaustion to her husband, Susannah York as the unstable starlet Alice, Red Buttons as seen-it-all Sailor, and Gig Young who upturned his long-established light comedy image as the Machiavellian dance emcee Rocky.You will likely recognize Al Lewis (Grandpa on "The Munsters") as Rocky's mercenary assistant Turkey and Michael Conrad (Sgt. Phil Esterhaus on "Hill Street Blues") as the cynical roller skating referee.
Among the contestants vying for the $1,500 victory are a depressive and damaged aspiring actress (Jane Fonda), a wannabe filmmaker-turned-criminal (Michael Sarrazin), another aspiring Hollywood starlet (Susannah York), and a pregnant wife and her husband (Bonnie Bedelia and Bruce Dern).
The premise is almost paper-thin and on the surface sounds somewhat dull: a dance marathon where contestants have to stay on their feet for hundreds upon hundreds of hours till they all fall down; but the emotional depth of the characters is the key ingredient that enriches the entire film.Each of the characters carry with them an array of baggage and psychological complexity that is subtly unraveled, and the writing is really the glue that keeps the show together, supplemented with career-defining performances from Fonda and York.
Set against the backdrop of a depression-era dance marathon, THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY stars Jane Fonda and Michael Sarazzin as an unexpected couple literally competing for their lives.
The idea that one could at one time or another end up anywhere on the wheel must have been great solace to those who felt they were at the bottom.In Sydney Pollack's 1969 film, `They Shoot Horses, Don't They?' we are given this idea of life in a microcosm.
The dancers are an ensemble cast including: Jane Fonda as Gloria Beatty, Michael Sarrazin as Robert Syverton, Susannah York as Alice LeBlanc, Red Buttons as `Sailor,' Bonnie Bedelia as Ruby, Bruce Dern as James, and other minor characters.Of course, certain people have always seemed to be outside of the desperation of life.
This woman simply can not act, she delivers her lines poorly and is not helped by some woeful dialogue 'I've got my eye on you' one referee says to her, 'Which one?' she replies.Amazingly she would later win two thoroughly undeserved Best Actress Oscars for equally poor performances in Coming Home and Klute.The weak characterisations mean that we can never care sufficiently about the dancers to find their plight either harrowing, disturbing or even worth watching and the story is further confused by unnecessary flash-forwards relating to the totally unbelievable climax to this rather pointless film..
A young, wide-eyed Michael Sarrizin functions well as our point of access into this alien world of 1930's marathon dance contests, but I agree with the critic Pauline Kael that his big action at the end is under-motivated, based on how he's decided to play his character up to that point.But the movie belongs to Jane Fonda.
Other participants include confident elderly sailer Harry Kline (Red Buttons), aspiring actors Alice (Susannah York) and Joel (Robert Fields), and poverty-stricken James (Bruce Dern) and his pregnant wife Ruby (Bonnie Bedelia) who are willing to dance simply for the food.Director Sydney Pollack is able to bring a sense of rising desperation to the movie.
Sydney Pollack's pungent film adaptation of Horace McCoy's 1935 novel about a dance marathon contest during the Depression-era - the ultimate test of energy and endurance, which blurs the line between competition and reality show.
He is the one granted with an opening flashback, as a young boy witnessing a horse being shot after breaking a leg (and the one who articulates the profound title in the coda) and flash-forward sequences (which viewers will only realise near the end) of being interrogated for an unspecified crime, Sarration is so unassuming and non-threatening against the whole backdrop of competition and dissatisfaction, his innocence is the last straw of hop in the story, which albeit hasn't been shown on screen, will be harshly stripped of in audience's mind picture, again, one should truly admire the courage of the filmmakers here, all the wistful tunes, big band rollicking aside, the film can blow you away for its uncompromising reprimand of what a degraded world we are living and a high point in Pollack's just burgeoning career..
This film does a good job of conveying the desperation of the time and is excellently acted, particularly by Fonda as a bitter woman, York as a Jean Harlow wannabe, Bedilia as a pregnant contestant, and Young as the MC.
The colors are muted and dusty against the cheery façade of the event, and the sweaty and haggard faces show through the performance makeup.Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York, Red Buttons, Bruce Dern, Robert Fields, and Bonnie Bedelia are the featured dance contestants, and Gig Young is the MC.
For James and Ruby (Dern and Bedilia) it's food for themselves and the baby that's on the way; for Alice and Joel (York and Fields) it's the chance of being seen by someone influential from the movie industry; for Gloria (Fonda), and for the Sailor and Shirl (Buttons and McLerie) it's to earn some money; and, as succinctly expressed in a scene between Robert (Sarrazin) and Rocky (Young), for the former the marathon is a competition, whilst for the latter, it's a show.
They want to see the chaotic potential of the marathon, they want to see these human beings brought to their breaking point, and they get that in spades.Focusing on the young Robert (Michael Sarrazin) and Gloria (Jane Fonda), two loners who partner up for the contest, the film explores some dark themes through their experience of the contest and the downward spiral they are pushed through.
There are flashes to Robert being arrested for an unknown crime that we see several times throughout the film, which provide an interesting look at his character and a curious mystery to try and decipher, but the primary focus of the film is on those themes of bringing a person to their breaking point and seeing what comes out as a result.The performances are uniformly strong, from the powerfully broken Fonda, to the borderline psychotic Susannah York, to the energetic and determined Red Buttons, but special note should be given to Young who is charismatic and malicious as the host of ceremonies but in his moments out of the spotlight presents a sort of bitter melancholy towards the world that adds another layer to his character.
Fonda is Gloria, a hard-edged, world-weary woman, who has been lied to and used for so long and fallen so far down on her luck that she finds herself competing in one of those grueling, spirit- breaking, mind-destroying dance marathon contests that proliferated for a few years during the Depression when folks would do anything for money and which serves as an allegory for the age.
The film takes place during the Great Depression, when poor people would do almost anything for money, including endure a non-stop, month long dance marathon.This is really Robert Syverton's (Michael Sarrazin) story.
The marathon will eventually break the spirits or minds or bodies of almost everyone involved in one shape or form, leading to a finale that may be downbeat, but all the same I feel that there's really no other way this film could've ended.There are flaws in the late Sydney Pollack's depressing Depression-era masterpiece, the first being the flash-forwards that take us out of the action and try to make it be a murder mystery that really doesn't matter (I feel Pollack was trying too hard to make Robert, Gloria's dance partner, likable), and the second is Michael Sarrazin's bland performance next to the ferocity of Jane Fonda's amazing performance as the brave but breaking spirit Gloria, the quiet explosion of Susannah York and Gig Young as the ringmaster who knows he's manipulating the contestants.
But Pollack's film is tonally assured--one can almost feel the exhaustion of the parade of desperate people who become human race horses, agreeing to be part of a non-stop dance contest in the blind hope of getting a $1,500 prize money.
Other down-and-out contestants include Red Buttons, Susanna York, Bruce Dern and Bonnie Bedelia.Gig Young stands out as the charismatic MC who justifies the marathon and constantly makes brutal exploitation sound like good fun.
Dancing with Gloria are Robert Syverton (Michael Sarrazin), who seems to have committed a crime which makes this a story told in extensive flashbacks; Alice LeBlanc (Susannah York), who with partner Joel (Robert Fields) aspired to be a star; Ruby (Bonnie Bedelia) and James (Bruce Dern), a young married couple expecting their first child; and the Sailor (Red Buttons), a veteran of dance marathons.
It's rare indeed for any movie to possess this kind of power but the sheer intensity of its story, the desperation of its characters and the quality of its cast really do make this film extremely memorable and quite unique.This depression-era drama about the experiences of a group of poverty stricken people who enter a dance marathon at a run-down ballroom on the Santa Monica Pier near L.A. describes the hopes that motivate them and also shows the suffering and humiliation that they experience as they struggle against impossible odds to chase their dreams of a $1,500 prize or the fame and fortune that could follow, if they get spotted by any of the talent scouts who might be in the audience.
Jane Fonda and Susannah York make their characters unforgettable and Red Buttons is marvellous as the determinedly optimistic and energetic "old salt"."They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" is a tragic and very human story which, despite its depressing subject matter and shocking conclusion, is both thought provoking and riveting from start to finish..
"They Shoot Horses, Don't They,?" is only moderately successful in recreating the dance marathon of the 1930s during the depression years.Jane Fonda and Susannah York received well-deserved Oscar nominations for their portrayals as dance contestants eager to win the big prize for survival.
Regarding the Dance Marathon, whoever will win the 1500 dollars prize will be less interesting than the dozens of delightful losers.Take the character Alice, played by Susannah York, she's a young actress coming with her partner, together they expect to catch the eye of a director. |
tt2948356 | Zootopia | In the town of Bunnyburrow, a kid bunny named Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) is performing in a play for a talent show. The theme is that animals used to only be predator and prey, but now they have evolved to the point where they can all live side by side, and every animal can be whatever they want to be. She rips off her robe to reveal a police officer's uniform, and a fox kid in the audience named Gideon Gray (Phil Johnston) sneers at the idea that she could become a cop. After the performance, Judy talks to her parents, Stu (Pierre Lavit) and Bonnie (Bonnie Hunt), who try to talk her out of the idea. Judy sees Gideon bullying some sheep and taking their tickets. She confronts him and demands that he give the tickets back, and he responds by clawing her face and pushing her down. The sheep come over to help, and she pulls out the tickets that she had taken back from Gideon. She hands them back to the sheep and defiantly puts her cop hat back on.Fifteen years later, Judy is going through obstacle courses at the Zootopia Police Academy. She's much smaller than the other recruits, and she falls down a lot, but she is determined to make it. Using her strong legs and great hearing to her advantage, she breezes through the courses, and graduates with the other cadets. The mayor, Leodore Lionheart (J.K. Simmons) announces that Zootopia will have its first rabbit officer, and he has the assistant mayor, a sheep named Bellwether (Jenny Slate), present Judy with her badge. Bellwether tells her that this is a great day for the little animals, and a photographer tries to snap a picture of Judy, Lionheart and Bellwether, but Lionheart nudges Bellwether out of the photo.Days later, Judy and her parents and many siblings head to the train station. Stu hands her a can of fox repellant, and she gets on the train to Zootopia. Finding her apartment in the city, she sees that it's tiny, with a rickety bed and paper-thin walls. The next morning, she gets dressed for her first day on the job, grabbing the can of fox repellant on the way out. At the police station, she meets the desk sergeant, a cheetah named Benjamin Clawhauser (Nate Torrence), who directs her to the bullpen. The other officers are rhinos, hippos, elephants and buffalo, and they all tower over Judy. Police Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) calls them to order and hands out assignments for the day. He tells them there are fourteen missing mammal cases, and divides them up to take cases in the different lands. Finally, he assigns Judy to parking duty.Judy uses her hearing to listen for expired meters, and her speed to run up to each one and write a ticket. She sees a fox pushing a stroller head into an elephant ice cream parlor. Suspicious, she grabs the can of fox repellant and goes inside to see what he's up to. He tells the elephant behind the counter that he wants to buy a Jumbo-pop for his son, but the elephant refuses to serve him. Feeling bad about having jumped to conclusions, Judy steps in and orders the elephant to serve the fox. When the fox tells her that he left his wallet at home, she pays for the Jumbo-pop for him and holds the door as he exits. He introduces himself as Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), and she places a badge sticker on his son's chest. She walks away with a spring in her step, having helped someone in need.Later that day, Judy is writing more tickets when she sees Nick again. She goes up to talk to him, but then stops when she sees that he's melting the Jumbo-pop and collecting the juice in jars. They get into a van, and Judy sees that his son is taking the driver's seat. She follows them into Tundratown, where the son makes molds with his paws, and then Nick pours in the juice to make smaller pops. She follows them again into Savanna Central, where he's selling the pops to lemmings at marked-up prices. They quickly buy him out, and they toss their sticks into a recycling bin. Judy sees that the "son" is actually a full-grown fennec fox named Finnick (Tommy 'Tiny' Lister). He collects the sticks, and he and Nick head into Little Rodentia, again with Judy following, unseen. Nick sells the sticks to a mouse construction worker, and then pays off Finnick, who drives away in his van. Judy confronts Nick, and he tells her that he's a hustler, but she can't arrest him since he didn't do anything illegal. He tells her that she came to the city thinking she could be anything, but she'll never be a cop, only a meter maid.Sadly, Judy heads home. Her parents call for a video chat, and they see her still wearing her meter maid uniform. They're relieved, because that's the least dangerous job for an officer. The next day, Judy is writing more tickets, when a pig yells at her that his store has just been robbed. Springing into action, Judy sees a weasel running with a bag and gives chase. The weasel runs into Little Rodentia, and he grabs a donut sign from a building and throws it at Judy. She ducks, and the sign rolls toward some shrews coming out of Mousy's department store. Judy runs and grabs the sign before it could crush one of the shrews, and she throws the sign at the weasel, with the donut landing around his body, trapping him.Judy rolls the weasel into the police station, and Bogo tells her that she should have stuck to writing tickets, rather than chasing a thief named Duke Weaselton (Alan Tudyk), who only managed to steal moldy onions. She tells him that she doesn't want to be just a meter maid, and he retorts that she isn't living in a musical, where she can sing a song and all her dreams will come true, and she needs to let it go.Just then, an otter named Mrs. Otterton (Octavia Spencer) barges in and reminds Chief Bogo that her husband Emmitt has been missing for ten days. He tries to calm her, but she gets more upset. Judy tells Mrs. Otterton that she will find her husband, and Bogo glares at her. Bogo takes Mrs. Otterton outside, and tells Judy that he's firing her for insubordination. He opens the door, and Assistant Mayor Bellwether is hugging Mrs. Otterton, and she says she can't wait to tell Mayor Lionheart that Judy is taking the case. She tells Judy to call her if she needs anything, and leaves. Bogo tells Judy that she has forty-eight hours to find Emmitt, or she will be forced to resign. Clawhauser hands her the case file, which consists of a single piece of paper, saying there are no leads and no witnesses. Then he tells her that she isn't in the system yet, so she can't use the police computer. Looking at the grainy last photo of Emmitt, she sees a mini pop in his hand, the kind she saw Nick selling earlier.She finds Nick, once again pushing his stroller, and she asks him to look at the photo, but he says he's too busy making money. She tells him that his ten dollars of sales in mini pops will have to wait. He says that he has made two hundred dollars a day, every day since he was twelve. She threatens to arrest him for tax evasion, since he hasn't declared any income in his life, and he says it's his word against hers. She pulls out a carrot-shaped pen recorder and replays what he just said, telling him that if he doesn't help her, the only place he'll be selling pops is in the prison cafeteria. Finnick laughs and slaps his sticker on Nick, and then walks away. Nick tells Judy that he saw where Emmitt went, and she orders him into her car.They arrive at the Mystic Springs Oasis, where Judy sees a yak named Yax (Tommy Chong), doing yoga behind a desk. She shows him the picture of Emmitt, and he says he hasn't seen him in weeks. He offers to take her to Emmitt's yoga instructor, but when he comes out from behind the desk, she sees that he is naked. He says that they're a naturalist club, and he leads her to the pleasure pool, where there are naked animals everywhere. The yoga instructor is an elephant, and Yax tells Judy that she'll remember everything, but she doesn't remember anything about Emmitt. Trying to prompt her, Yax tells her that Emmitt came in on Wednesday two weeks ago, wearing a green sweater vest, corduroy pants and a paisley tie. Judy scrambles to write down everything Yax is saying, and then asks him if he remembers Emmitt's license plate number, which he rattles off. She thanks him and goes outside, and Nick says he did his part, so he'll take her recording and leave. Judy remembers that she's not in the system yet, and so she can't run the plate. Nick tells her that he has a friend at the DMV.Together, they go to the Department of Mammal Vehicles, and Judy sees that the only animals working there are sloths. Nick goes up to his friend Flash (Raymond S. Persi), and Judy asks him to run the plate. Flash takes forever, and by the time Judy gets the printout saying that the plate belongs to a limo in Tundratown, it's already night, and Judy realizes she's running out of time.Pulling up to the Tundratown Limo Service lot, they find the gate locked. Nick tells Judy that since she doesn't have a warrant, she's done. Defeated, she holds out her pen recorder, but then she tosses it over the gate. Angrily, Nick climbs over the gate to get it, finding Judy on the other side, holding it. She tells him that she doesn't need a warrant if she has probable cause, and a shifty-looking fox climbing over the gate qualifies. He admires the fact that she pulled a hustle on him. They find the limo and look inside, seeing polar bear fur and claw marks all over the seats. Judy finds a wallet on the floor with Emmitt's license inside. Nick sees cocktail glasses etched with a B, and he realizes whose limo it is. He tells Judy that they have to leave right away, and she asks who the limo belongs to. He tells her that it's the crime boss of Tundratown, Mr. Big (Maurice LaMarche), who doesn't like Nick, and he opens the limo door, finding two large polar bears waiting for him. They grab Nick and Judy and shove them into a car, squeezing them in the middle. Judy asks Nick what he did to make Mr. Big so mad, and he tells her that he sold Mr. Big an expensive rug that was made from the fur of a skunk's butt.They're led into Mr. Big's office, and Judy is surprised to see that he is actually a tiny Arctic shrew. Judy tells him that she's a cop, and she's looking for Emmitt, who was in his limo. Mr. Big tells the polar bears to ice Nick and Judy, and they dangle them over an ice pit. Mr. Big's daughter Fru Fru walks in wearing a wedding dress, and she reminds him that he promised not to ice anybody on her wedding day. She recognizes Judy as the cop who had saved her at the department store, and Mr. Big tells the bears to put them down. He tells Judy that he will help her find Emmitt.At the wedding table, Nick and Judy tower over the other guests. Mr. Big tells them that Emmitt was his florist, and he wanted to discuss something important, so Mr. Big sent the limo to pick him up. But when the limo got there, Emmitt went crazy and ripped up the car, and then ran off. He tells them that the driver, Manchas (Jesse Corti), can give them more information.In the Rainforest District, Nick and Judy arrive at Manchas' house. He cracks open the door with a chain lock in place, and Judy sees that he is a jaguar, and he has bruises, cuts and a black eye. She asks him what happened, and he tells her that Emmitt savagely attacked him, yelling something about the night howlers. Judy asks him to let them in so they can talk about it, and he shuts the door and removes the chain. Then they hear a grunting noise and a thud inside the house. Opening up the door, they see that Manchas has gone savage, and he chases after them like a primal predator.Nick and Judy run for their lives, going across a slippery bridge with Manchas chasing behind. They jump off and make it into a hollow log, and Judy calls for help on the police radio. Clawhauser picks up the call and sends backup to their location, and Manchas takes a swipe at them, knocking the radio out of Judy's hand. They scramble out of the log and continue to run, heading to a gondola station. Judy slips and gets separated from Nick, and Manchas continues charging toward him. Just when Manchas is set to pounce, Judy cuffs his back paw to a metal post. Manchas angrily knocks Judy and Nick off the high walkway, and Judy grabs a vine with one hand and Nick with the other. She swings them over to a vine net, which supports their weight, but then the vines snap, sending them plunging to the ground below. Just before they hit, some vines that had wrapped around their legs stop their descent, and the other cops arrive to find them hanging upside down.Judy tells the other cops that this is more than a missing mammal case, and that she thinks Emmitt and Manchas have gone savage. Bogo tells her that no animal has gone savage in years, and she takes him to where she had cuffed Manchas. To her surprise, both Manchas and the cuffs are gone. Bogo tells the other cops that it's time for them to leave. Bogo tells Judy that he gave her two days to find Emmitt, and she failed. He demands that she hand over her badge. Nick steps up and says that since Bogo said she had forty-eight hours, technically she still has ten left to find Emmitt. Nick and Judy step into a gondola and leave the other officers behind.Nick tells Judy not to let Bogo see that he gets to her. Nick says that when he was nine, he wanted to join the Junior Ranger Scouts, but the other animals slapped a muzzle on him and ripped up his uniform. He says he learned two things that day: He was never going to let anyone see that they got to him, and if people think that a fox can only be shifty, that's what he would be. She tells him that he's much more than that. Seeing a lot of traffic below, Nick realizes that there are traffic cameras everywhere, and whatever happened to Manchas, it would've been caught on tape.Judy takes Nick to City Hall, where Assistant Mayor Bellwether is struggling to balance a stack of files and keep up with Mayor Lionheart. He tells Bellwether that he's heading out for the day, letting the door slam in her face. Judy tells Bellwether that she needs her help, and Bellwether leads them to her office, which is actually a janitor's closet. Judy tells her that she needs to see the traffic camera footage, and Bellwether says she never gets to do anything important like this, since the mayor treats her like a secretary. Lionheart yells for her, so she leaves them to look at the camera footage. They see Manchas acting wild, and then a black van pulls up and two wolves get out and grab him in a net. One of the wolves howls, and Judy says that they must be the night howlers, and if they took Manchas, they must have taken Emmitt, too. Watching the footage, they see the van pull into a tunnel, and it doesn't come out the other side. Nick tells Judy that there's a maintenance tunnel that leads to another spot. Going through the cameras, Nick sees the wolves emerge in the van and head out of town.Following the road that they saw, Nick and Judy arrive at an old building called Cliffside Asylum. There are two wolves standing guard, and Nick tries to tiptoe past them, but they pick up his scent. From a distance, Judy lets out a loud howl, causing the wolves to howl in return. With the wolves distracted, Nick and Judy sneak into the building, emerging in a large room with old medical equipment. Going through a door, they find another room with brand new medical equipment. They see claw marks on the floor, and a caged savage tiger grabs Nick and pulls him in. Judy yanks Nick away, and she shines her flashlight around the room, seeing the eyes of several animals. One cage has Manchas inside, and another has Emmitt. Judy realizes that all of the fourteen missing mammals are in that room, and they've all gone savage. The door opens, and some animals walk in. Nick and Judy hide near an empty cage. She sees that Mayor Lionheart and a doctor have walked in, and she starts recording what he says. The mayor is demanding that the doctor do something about the savage animals. The doctor says he's doing all he can, and the mayor needs to come forward. Angrily, the mayor asks what he thinks will happen if the press finds out what's happening. The doctor asks the mayor what Chief Bogo thinks, and he says the chief doesn't know, and he plans to keep it that way. Just then, Judy's cell phone rings with a call from her parents.Lionheart is startled, and he says someone is there. The doctor tells him to leave, and an alarm goes off, sending lions to sweep the room. Nick and Judy run away, and she puts her phone in an evidence bag, then dives into a hippo toilet, with Nick following. Going through the pipes, they shoot out over a waterfall, and they both swim to the riverbank. Judy tells Nick that she has to tell Chief Bogo what she saw.The officers of the Zootopia Police Department burst into the mayor's office, and Judy tells him he's under arrest for unlawful imprisonment. He protests that he had to do it for the city, but Judy tells him he has the right to remain silent as the officers drag him away. Later, Chief Bogo is holding a press conference, and he announces that all fourteen missing mammals were found by Judy. She tells Nick that she's nervous, and he warns her to be careful when answering questions from the press. Judy says that she could use a partner like him, and she hands him a police application. She also hands him the carrot pen, and he starts to fill it out. Judy steps up to the podium, and a reporter asks her what the connection is between the animals that went savage. Judy points out that they're all natural predators, and reporters ask her why it happened. She says she doesn't know, but it may have something to do with the predators' DNA. The tension rises, and a reporter asks if it could happen again. Judy says it's possible, and they must stay vigilant. A reporter asks if all predators should be quarantined, and Bellwether shuts down the press conference.Judy walks over to Nick and apologizes for not being able to say anything about him. He tells her that she said plenty, that there's something in a predator's DNA. She says she was just stating facts, and it's not like a bunny could go savage. He asks her if she thinks a fox could, and she says that he's not that kind of predator. He asks if she means the kind that has to be muzzled, or the kind that makes her think she needs a can of repellant. Angrily, he lunges at her, and she instinctively puts her hand on her can of fox repellant. He hands her back the application, telling her that it's best she doesn't have a predator for a partner.A wedge was driven between the predator and prey animals, and Judy feels responsible. She goes to see Mrs. Otterton at the hospital, where she's watching Emmitt flail around in a padded room. At the police department, Chief Bogo tells Judy that the new mayor, Bellwether, wants to see them. Bellwether shows them a pamphlet with Judy's face on the front, and tells them the city is ninety percent prey animals, and they're all scared. They need to see a hero like Judy as the face of the police department. Judy says she's not a hero, and that she came to make the world better, and instead, she broke it. Bogo tells her that the world has always been broken, and that's why they need cops like her. Judy says that a good cop should help the city, not tear it apart. She turns in her badge and leaves.Back in Bunnyburrow, Judy is ringing up carrots at the family vegetable stand. Her parents walk up and ask her why she's sad. She wonders why she thought she could ever make a difference, and her parents tell her it's because she's always been a trier. She says she tried, and she made life worse for innocent predator animals. Just then, Gideon shows up in a truck, and Judy's parents tell her that he's their partner now, making pies with their produce. They say they wouldn't have considered it without her opening their eyes. Gideon steps out and apologizes for acting like a jerk when he was a kid. He brings out pies, and some kid bunnies run across a field toward him. Stu tells them not to run through the Midnicampum holicithias, and Gideon says that his family has always just called the plants night howlers.Judy's ears perk up, and Stu points to the flowers at the edge of the crops. He says he uses them to keep the bugs away, but he doesn't like for the kids to run through them, after what happened with his brother Terry. He had eaten one whole, and then bit Bonnie on the arm. Judy realizes that a bunny can go savage, and that night howlers aren't wolves, but flowers that make animals go crazy. She grabs the keys to the truck and races back to Zootopia.Judy finds Nick sitting under a bridge, and she tells him about the flowers. She says she needs his help to fix it, and that predators shouldn't suffer because of her mistake. She says that after he helps her, he can walk away, knowing that she really is just a dumb bunny. Nick holds up her recorder, playing the "dumb bunny" part over and over, and he tells her that she can erase it in forty-eight hours. With that gesture making Nick's forgiveness plain, the pair embrace in their reconciliation.Nick and Judy climb into the truck, and he finds a basket of blueberries, popping a few into his mouth. Judy shows him a picture of Duke Weaselton, the thief she caught stealing flower bulbs. They find him on a corner selling bootleg movies with the titles "Wrangled," "Wreck-It Rhino" and "Pig Hero 6." She confronts him and tells him she knows it wasn't moldy onions he was stealing. She asks him what he was going to do with the night howlers, and he says he won't talk. Judy and Nick share a sly smile.Polar bears are holding Weaselton over an ice pit, and Mr. Big tells them to ice him. Weaselton asks why Mr. Big is helping a cop, and he says that Judy is the future godmother of his first granddaughter. Fru Fru walks in and shows a pregnant belly, and says she's going to name her daughter Judy. Weaselton says he stole the night howlers because he could sell them to a ram named Doug, and that the drop spot is deep underground.Nick and Judy follow the directions to a subway car in an abandoned station. They hide as two rams get out, and then they look inside, finding the car transformed into a greenhouse, with night howlers growing everywhere. A door opens, and Nick and Judy hide underneath a desk. Doug walks in and harvests the pollen, producing a pellet of serum. Doug gets a phone call, telling him that his mark is a cheetah in Sahara Square. He says he hit an otter from a moving car, and he'll have no problem hitting the cheetah. He loads the pellet into a dart gun, and then two more rams bang on the door. When Doug opens it, Judy kicks him in the back, knocking him and the other rams outside. She locks the door and starts up the car, and it moves down the track, slowly gaining speed.A ram head-butts his way through the windshield and knocks Judy out of a window. Judy grabs his horns and tells Nick to speed up. Nick says there's another train coming down the track toward them, and Judy kicks the ram into the track switch lever, causing the car to change tracks. The car derails, and Nick and Judy dive out onto a platform. Then the train explodes, burning up everything inside. Judy thinks they have lost all the evidence, but Nick holds up a case with the dart gun and pellet inside.Going up the stairs from the subway platform, they emerge inside the empty Natural History Museum. Judy sees the police department doors through the museum exit. A voice calls out to Judy, and she turns around and sees Mayor Bellwether and two sheep cops behind her. She tells the mayor that someone is darting predators to turn them savage, and the mayor says she's proud of what Judy has done. Judy asks the mayor how she knew where to find them, and the mayor asks her to turn over the case. Suspicious, Judy says that she'll take it to the police department herself, and the sheep block her path. Judy realizes that Bellwether was behind the plot from the start.Judy and Nick run down a corridor, and Judy looks over her shoulder, not seeing a woolly mammoth tusk in front of her. The tusk cuts her leg, and she falls over. Nick grabs her and carries her behind a pillar. Some blueberries fall out of his pocket, and he offers one to her. She passes, and then tells him to take the case to the police department. He says he won't leave her behind. Bellwether calls out, telling Judy that they're on the same side, since they're both prey mammals. She says that prey outnumber predators ten to one, and with them all united against the predators, they'll be unstoppable. Bellwether sees a shadow of rabbit ears against a wall, and orders the sheep to attack. They pounce, finding only a mummified jackalope. Judy and Nick run for it, but they're tackled by a sheep, and Nick drops the case. They land in a sunken diorama, and Bellwether looks down on them. Judy asks if Bellwether is going to kill her, and she says, "Of course not. He is." She takes out the dart gun and shoots the pellet at Nick. The dart goes into his skin, and he starts to shake.Bellwether calls the police department, and tells them that there's a savage fox in the museum, and Officer Hopps is down. Judy looks around, finding no escape, and Nick stalks her like a savage predator. Judy tells him to fight it, but Bellwether says he can't help it, since predators are biologically predisposed to be savages.Judy says that Bellwether's plan won't work, and she replies that fear always works, and she'll dart every predator in Zootopia to keep it that way. Nick corners Judy and lunges at her, and Bellwether smiles. Suddenly, Nick stands up and helps Judy to her feet. He holds up the ball of serum, and tells Bellwether that what was in the gun was a blueberry. Bellwether says that she framed Lionheart, and she can frame them. Nick holds up the carrot pen and plays the "dart every predator" part over and over again.On the news, Bellwether is being led to jail. Lionheart gives an interview where he says he didn't know about Bellwether's plot to turn the animals savage, and he only caged them to protect the city. A newscaster announces that an antivenom is turning the savage predators docile. Judy goes to the hospital, and she sees Emmitt recovered, with his wife hugging him tightly.Months later, Judy is addressing the new police academy graduates. "When I was a kid, I thought Zootopia was this perfect place where everyone got along and anyone could be anything. Turns out, real life's a little bit more complicated than a slogan on a bumper sticker. Real life is messy. We all have limitations. We all make mistakes, which means...hey, glass half full! We all have a lot in common. And the more we try to understand one another, the more exceptional each of us will be. But we have to try. No matter what type of animal you are, from the biggest elephant to our first fox, I implore you: Try. Try to make a difference. Try to make the world better. Try to look inside yourself and recognize that change starts with you. It starts with me. It starts with all of us."Nick approaches the stage, and Judy pins on his cop badge. The next day, Chief Bogo is handing out assignments, giving Nick and Judy the task of catching a hot-rodder. Judy and Nick are sitting in their patrol car, when they see a sports car whiz past. They smile at each other, and Judy turns on the siren and slams on the gas. Moments later, they have the car pulled over, and Nick and Judy recognize the driver. | allegory, revenge, neo noir | train | imdb | null |
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